


Distorted World Link

by SeaMaid



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Touhou Project
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Fan Soundtracks, Gen, Nuzlocke Challenge, Touhoumon, Touhoumon World Link
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2018-09-28 01:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10064720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaMaid/pseuds/SeaMaid
Summary: A century has passed since the Java region finally got into contact with the other regions. Many of the so-called Bonéka living there - short, doll-like humanoids capable of Pokémon-like feats -migrated to the regions that would accept them, eventually carving out a niche of their own in the Hoennese culture as battlers. Among them is Diana, who just wanted to learn how to fight for self-defense, but joined a team challenging the League after the adrenaline went to her head. As Diana travels along with the team through Hoenn and gets to know them better, she comes to realise something: the one thing harder than fighting other people is fighting yourself and your past.A Nuzlocke run of the Pokémon Emerald hackWorld Linkby Aichiya Sanae, also available on the Nuzforums (link provided in the prologue). Past knowledge of the Touhou series not necessary, but recommended.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> NuzForum version's through this link: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/nuzlocke_forum/distorted-world-link-a-touhoumon-run-t31677.html . The good thing with reading it over there is that, rather than hyperlinks to the music I make, there's built-in audio players in (nearly) every update.
> 
> ... Yes, you read that right. I love making (or fooling around with others') music - it's my lifeblood. And because ZUN has been a huge influence on me for almost half my life, I decided that most updates would have my takes of some of his works. Let's see how well that works, shall we!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan Birch lives all alone in the comfy little ghost town called Littleroot - well, all alone if you don't count his adoptive kid Renko and the lab he works at. His quiet evening at home gets quite rowdy when Renko comes back from a party with company she doesn't know, either.

([Currently playing the 'imaginatively' titled: **Intro**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/150763909417/))

 

 

  
_"[...] Our ancestors of the last milleniae believed that this planet had two main factions, which later on were split into halves, themselves._  
  
They were us humans, who have remained divided into Mainlanders and Hoennese even after modern technology allows us to travel the regions effortlessly. And they were the Pokémon, who over time have been given the labels of 'tameable' or 'mythological'.  
  
It wasn't until the end of year 2021 that we were proven wrong.  
  
  
  
Heavy storms struck the eastern areas of Hoenn; a severe cyclone swept over what would later be named Ever Grande Island. Once they had calmed down, people from the Mossdeep Science Center were sent out to see how the cyclone had affected the island's Pokémon population.  
  
Near the island's northern end, they found debris from a shipwreck floating around. "We've found two humans and about a dozen **beings** \- there is no other word for it," their reports say (Briney Sr. 2021); "They're about a head shorter than us. Their noses and upper lip seem to have merged together, their eyes like that of a child's drawing. Some of them even have traits of Pokémon, like tails or ears! They and the obviously human survivors appear to speak the same language, but it is not ours. What on Earth are they?"  
  
They were what we nowadays call **Bonéka** , hailing from the Java region.  
  
  
  
Since then, the Javans have had quite the impact on our history as a whole, as you will notice in the rest of this chapter [...]"  
  
  
  
And that's basically it. So what do you think? I'm wondering if the description's a bit too dramatic for a history book... But then again, that was a dramatic changing point in everyone's lives, wasn't it!  
  
  
  
  
Can't wait to see you again,  
Jonathan Birch  
  
  
==-==  
  
  
The draft came back to Jonathan's house days later, this time with an Olivinian stamp on the front and comments in green marker all over it.  
  
Jonathan always thought it was a fine tradition to write his drafts by hand, and to ask friends to give him their feedback in the same manner. Sure, it would take a few days for the letters to travel each way, and doing it by e-mail was probably much cheaper... But if he didn't have all his work stored on the PC at the laboratory, he could get a bit of work done on his off-time.  
  
For instance, if he was waiting for his kid to come home from a party on a Friday night. In other words: right now.  
  
Where the heck was she? It was only supposed to be a short trek to Oldale. Sure, it could take up to an hour to bike _to_ Oldale, but with his home in Littleroot lying straight at the bottom of a valley, you could easily cut that hour down by half on the way home by letting go of the brakes and hoping nobody would get in the way. And sure, he may have crashed into the side of the road once or twice due to a Linoone suddenly popping up right in front of him... But still, he could always make it home afterwards, and Renko was perceptive enough about her surroundings that it shouldn't be a problem!  
  
... What was he on about? Better get back to proofreading the proofreading.  
  
He had pretty much gone through the whole draft again before he heard noises from the front door. A grin spread on his face as he stood up and prepared to open the door for her. "Evening, Renko! How was-"  
  
"Listen, I don't even know where to start with this." Renko sprinted into the hall, threw her trademark hat onto the wall, missed the hat holder by a mile, and zipped over to the kitchen area of the room. "I wasn't planning on this either, but there she is, tryin'a force something on me just 'cause I'm-"  
  
"Wait, who's visiting us?!"  
  
A slow drawl with a lot of stuttering came from the hall. "Sorry to intrude..." The girl - no, the woman? - was probably the size of little Calvin down the street, so his first thought was that she must be a Bonéka. But once she put her shoes away (neatly, at that), she walked straight up to Jonathan and raised her hand as if to shake his. Now that he had a good look on her face, he saw that she was distinctly human, with a snubby nose and... Whatever that makeup you put on your eyelids was called. "Good eve **ning** ," she said, "arn't you the..."  
  
Renko cut her off, as shaky in her Javan as the stranger was in her Hoennese. "{I said he understood Javan, didn't I?}"  
  
"{Ah, my apologies.}" And suddenly, she moved on to rapid-fire speech. "{Pleased to meet you, Professor. You may call me Ms. Ishii: I'm here on behalf of Saboten Industries.}"  
  
'... What,' Jonathan - no, Birch, he apparently had to be professional now - thought. Had he heard any of those names before? He must have, right? If you were in Java and hadn't been travelling before that migration law was passed fourteen years ago, you had to be pretty darn special to come over with no warning...  
  
Renko very reluctantly told Ishii to have a seat, and Birch followed, trying to spark his memory. When he thought of Java in modern times, there was...  
  
"{... Oh! Weren't you the ones who- er-}" What was the word for robotics in Javan, again? - "{You made that **Ten** something-or-other?}"  
  
Ishii sighed. "{Yes. But I was sent here for a far more important project, and we had some unforeseen problems. So we thought, someone who went as far as to adopt someone from my region might want to help us mend some broken bridges... Would you?}"  
  
Birch tried to ignore Renko's increasingly annoyed face in the corner of his eye. "{What with?}"  
  
Ishii opened up the comically oversized bag slung over her shoulder and eventually found a Pokéball... Well, something similar to one, anyway. The red and white halves weren't neatly divided, but separated by a thick wavy line, and rather than one big button, it seemed to have a whole board of buttons. "{In this, I have my translator. And as your daughter helpfully explained to me earlier... 'It's trash, basically'.}"  
  
... Yeah, that sounded like Renko, alright. Renko shrunk together in her seat, but Birch waved that comment off with an "it's OK, sweetie, I understand."  
  
"{But the situation isn't hopeless. We programmed it to collect data on the language used nearby, which it has managed to do so far. Ideally, I would travel the whole region to make the translations as accurate as possible, but...}"  
  
Huh. That almost sounded like what Birch himself would have done if he had chosen the same career... "{'But'?}"  
  
"{While the project hasn't been officially cancelled, I have been asked to return home post-haste. I now need a volunteer.}" Ishii coughed, then leaned forward and stared at Birch. "{Evidently, your child hates the idea despite being the ideal choice, but would you consider finding someone in her stead?}"  
  
"{Hmm... What qualifications do they need?}"  
  
"{As long as they can be trusted not to lose the Orb, not brag about their mission to any and all, and report back to either me or you regularly.}"  
  
Birch rubbed his stubble and hummed again. If they could create a fully functional translator, the language barrier wouldn't be a big problem at all. There were so many ways that could help people nowadays, let alone him, if he wanted to study their history closer. But- did he know any people who would want to travel just for that? Were there any others planning on challenging the League, other than Renko? What about that friend of hers that was supposed to be at the party today...?  
  
  
  
"{... Hmm, I think I know a couple. Can't hurt to ask, can it!}"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonéka is Indonesian for doll, and also the term Aichiya used for Touhoumon in the hack. In all honesty, it may be the best part of the hack. Apart from the music room you can visit very early on.
> 
> In the hack, rather than getting to choose between Brendan and May as protagonist/rival, you get to choose between 'Maribel' Hearn ('Maribel' in quotations 'cause reasons) or Renko Usami as PCs. They keep their full names, but the hack still has them as Birch's and Norman's kids, respectively. That's why Renko is adopted.
> 
> The problem with this is that if you let Renko become the rival, her mum will still refer to Renko as her son. How was I supposed to interpret this oversight in-story? There are SO MANY WAYS, and all of them are depressing. Somehow, in the process of trying to choose between those ways, I accidentally erased her adoptive mum. And it's a bit late to put her back in now... So now Birch lives almost completely alone. Whoops.
> 
> Who's this Ishii pleb, then? She's another character from the hack. Her overworld sprite is a pretty woman (you know, green dress with apron and all that), but her battle sprite a little schoolgirl's! Hence her confusing appearance.
> 
> She fights you really early on in an infuriating battle involving a Bonéka that is impossible to obtain in the maingame and also has higher BST than most legendaries. But hey, at least she gives you an equally overpowered gift afterwards! ... That I couldn't use because nuzlocke rules. Hence this whole prologue.


	2. Intermission 1, or: "What (not) to do if your employee is a Bonéka"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With every new faction, and every new concept they bring to the table, there must be new terminology. This is an official attempt by the Kantonian government to document those Bonéka terms that would be useful in day to day life, even for humans.

**[This message has been automatically sent to anyone registered as an employer in Kanto.]**  
  
  
  
In accordance to the voting results of the current year, the Bonéka Immigration Act is about to be put into motion. From tomorrow on, Bonéka will be allowed to settle permanently in the Kanto region at will. (Observe, however, that the Migration act does not include Johto.)

What this means for you as an employer is that Bonéka may apply for permanent positions at your department. Because of this, it is of utmost importance that you be reminded of their capabilities and limits.

  
  
**Abilities** : As is common knowledge, Bonéka are assigned various species; these are nearly always strictly based on which **ability** and **hull** they were born with. For example, **Reimu** Bonéka have the standard **hull** , and can levitate despite their lack of wings. As of this writing, more than 70 abilities have been reported. What ability your potential recruit has can hinder or aid them at work, so make sure you understand what it is and what those can lead to.  
  
**Appearance** : A Bonéka's clothes are, technically speaking, like a second layer of skin; they connect to their skin near the neck and waist (and on another spot along the leg among the part of the population born with trouser-like appendages). In addition, certain types have wings or other extremities that would make a standard uniform impossible to wear above their other "skin".  
  
**Durability** : Unlike us humans, damage done to their bodies won't heal through Resting. In addition, their pain threshold is high enough that they may not notice small injuries (for example, papercuts). If there is any risk of injury at the job, make sure they can bring materials to heal themselves (see below) and that they have an assigned partner that can help them notice injuries/repair them.  
  
**Lifespan** : How long Bonéka live seems to vary on a case-to-case basis. While some allegedly have survived for more than half a century, their average age upon death is reportedly as low as 25-30 years.  
  
**The 'Hull'** : Bonéka "skin" takes the form of various common materials. It's the **hull** and the **shield** that determines what type a Bonéka is -- and in turn, what they would be suitable for. To use the ever-so-popular Water/Grass/Fire triangle as an example:

Grass Bonéka should stay as far away from fire as possible due to their wooden hulls. However, said hull is surprisingly sturdy, with most physical injuries (under a certain treshold) healed simply through applying varnish.

Fire Bonéka have a hollow hull like fired clay which withstands great heat, but would break when put under pressure that a Grass one could withstand.

Water types have plastic hulls which can't withstand the heat nor take the pressure, but _unlike nearly any other type_ , they can interact with water safely. There are reports of Water Bonéka diving for hours and coming back unharmed.  
  
**'Spellcards'** : Most spellcards simply allow the Bonéka to use moves not entirely unlike those of Pokémon. If a Bonéka is causing trouble for their coworkers, it is fully legal to confiscate their stronger spellcards; however, never confiscate a Bonéka's primary card. The primary card provides them with a shield (whose form varies depending on the species), which could save their or others' lives.  
  
**[This message has been brought to you by the Mainland Pokémon League.]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off: oh wow, two kudos already, and that was just after the prologue! Thank you for the support, people. ~~Feel free to comment so I can give you verbal hugs~~
> 
> So this was originally published 29/09/16 because I wanted to update the forum topic every week, but I didn't have the first chapter ready, and thought it would be a useful way to dump terminology on the reader without making the story come to a halt every time something new came up. While the first chapter already exists this time around, I still think the terminology part is enough justification to republish it _before_ going on to the main story.
> 
> "What's this about 'Mainland' Pokémon League?" If you haven't guessed, this refers to the shared League of Kanto and Johto. The way I've interpreted them for DWL is that the regions are different culturally, and technically have separate governments... But their histories are so closely linked that some Hoennese consider them one big superregion (and/or give them a less flattering nickname, but that's beside the point).
> 
> I know that the "no Resting" point is going to raise a few eyebrows, especially when that move is bound to show up in action later on... But I do have plans for how to implement it.
> 
>  
> 
> There's a lot of 'work, work, work' here, I know... And I'll admit, whenever I design backstories for characters, a lot of time is spent thinking about what they would be doing for a living if they didn't battle. Or rather, what they did before and (sometimes) what they plan to do afterwards!


	3. Chapter 1, Part 1: And now for someone completely "ordinary"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (In the end notes, I finally tell you all which rules I used in the 'locke!)
> 
>  
> 
> Rustboro. In stark contrast to Littleroot, one of the busiest, most crowded areas in all of Hoenn. However, not everyone living there feels safe in numbers. Some go the extra mile to learn self-defense for the sake of their own security... Sometimes to combat something different entirely while they're at it. Like, say, loneliness.

([Currently playing the 'imaginatively' titled: **Rust**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/151415747847/))

 

Two weeks later, the phone buzzed in a small, Rustboran apartment.  
  
Its owner jumped a little when she heard it, her wings jolting out to her sides. She put down the book she was reading, the one with the regional Professor on the back cover, and went to see who had messaged her.  
  
With her old phone you couldn't see earlier bits of their correspondence, but only the mail office would have written something like: "Your package will arrive at 19:00 today."  
  
... Today? She looked at the clock on the corner of the screen, eyes widening. Oh no, was it today? In ten minutes? Shouldn't the mail office give warning in advance, especially considering what she had ordered?!  
  
She sighed. 'OK, calm down, it's just the mailman, they don't care that the room's a mess right now.' ... But she still ought to do SOMETHING for her first guest in a while, right?  
  
For whatever reason, she settled for cleaning the footprints off of the window sill. She didn't want a repeat of the landlord seeing them during the last inspection, did she? All that worry over someone flying in and out of the window for work nearly every day. When you lived on the fourth floor that was almost a necessity.  
  
... And of course the doorbell rang before she was done. "W- One second!" she shouted, already wringing her gloves off, almost stumbling on a bump on the doormat before finally getting the door open. Crap, her head was pounding when she opened the door.  
  
The mailman - or mail-whatever-they-were, rather - looked quite a bit different from what she expected. Red and blue poles stuck out of their back: the mark of a shapeshifter Bonéka. But the truly odd part was that they had shapeshifted their outer skin into a uniform - that wasn't required for them, was it? They looked her over slowly and asked: "Are you Diana, Great Fairy?"  
  
Diana scratched her neck. "It's me yes, but please... I haven't evolved yet..."  
  
"Well, 'fairy' is too vague." The mailman balanced the box they were carrying on one hand and brought some paper slips out from beneath it. "Er, you should probably read the terms before signing here..."  
  
But for once, Diana ignored orders. The terms and conditions, frankly, looked just like any other. She knew the risks with this already, and most wouldn't be covered here. When was the last time you got a warning that "buying this product, as opposed to making it yourself, might make people see you in a less benevolent light"? Sure, it MIGHT just be like that, but she wasn't going to check if that was true.  
  
She didn't notice that the mailman had held their breath when she skimmed through the other pages, didn't hear them sighing in relief as she put her pen to the paper.  
  
"Thank you for your purchase!" And finally, the mailman handed the box over. "Now, this is something that should be treated with utmost care, in memory of the donor. Any last-minute questions about activating it or anything?"  
  
Oh, boy, here we go. Diana tightened her grip around the box. "I did some research, and... Y- you know, out of curiosity... Let's say you've never created a spellcard yourself. You would still be able to activate someone else's, right?"  
  
Thank God for small favours; you could tell the mailman had a lot of questions now, but they didn't actually ask any of them. "If it was that dangerous, you would have heard about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's the end of my shift..."  
  
"Y-yeah, of course!"  
  
And with that, the mailman disappeared down the stairs, grumbling to themself. Presumably about all the stairs.  
  
Who could blame them?  
  
She had already decided not to activate the card until she was about to go to bed, but it wouldn't hurt to open the box before then, she thought as she got to work with the knife...  
  
It was beautiful.  
  
The spellcard was just big enough to fit comfortably in her hand. The card had been painted in a few hues brighter than her hair, and even through the film, she could tell it reflected light exactly strongly enough. Five seed-shaped bumps stuck out of its front, and while she wasn't going to unwrap the film just yet, she could just barely see a star carved into it behind the seeds.  
  
The move you used with it had been described as nothing for professional fighters, but what did she care? Better than nothing! Pleased with herself, she went back to reading that book until it turned dark outside.  
  
Maybe, she could become a normal Bonéka now. Not that anyone could tell she hadn't been until now... It wasn't that she didn't have any spellcard at all - in fact, she fished it out of her chest pocket and laid it on the bed along with her purchase - the problem was just how nondescript and, above all, useless in combat it was. How did you defend yourself from particularly bad people if you couldn't shoot back at them?  
  
Well, that last was going to change now. Off with the film on the unbumpy end, a quick prayer to whatever deity wouldn't mind answering to just God - in her defense, most deities had names that really didn't roll off the tongue - and then she taped the cards together.  
  
A pause.  
  
And they started glowing, albeit more faintly than she expected. Weren't new spells supposed to be indicated by a much stronger...? Ah, no matter. She slipped them back into the pocket and laid down, not sure how she managed to fall asleep.  
  
-=-  
  
" _Yeah, on one hand, she didn't read'em at all. On the other, that means y'all managed to write something so boring it looked like a legit T &C. So I'd say tonight ended on a good note!_"  
  
-=-  
  
In the morning, when she immediately went for her pocket again, the cards had indeed merged together. It was hard not to scream of joy, but she held it in - she had caused her neighbours enough shocks already, for various reasons.  
  
Fortunately, her shift at the shop was supposed to be in the afternoon, so she could sneak some practice in first. She opened the window as usual, stretched with all sorts of joints popping as usual, and jumped out.  
  
She kept herself high above the streets. All those Wanted signs plastered over the streetlights -- portraits of Courtneys, Matts, what-have-yous scaring you silly with those dead stares and their "last seen at"s -- wouldn't disappear overnight, so the less she saw them, the better...  
  
Now, where was the Gym? She had never really cared for it until now, just gone on one or two trips during the school years to the museum built above it. It didn't exactly help that neither of those things were on eye level; unlike most of the city, the Gym had been built mostly underground, with a little dome for a hall above ground, and the museum was just one floor. The only reason that building could stand out, apart from the apparent dwarfism, was the understated sign in front saying what it was part of.  
  
... So why were her knees barely holding her up once she landed in front of it?  
  
She leaned against the wall for a moment, soaked the warm city air up. Traced her thumb around the bumps.  
  
  
  
'Right. Relax.'  
  
  
  
Sure, there would be actual fighters here. Sure, she couldn't mask the fact she had literally no experience with spellcards by wrestling people instead - apart from the occasional playfight during breaks, that had been years ago, too.  
  
But hey. There was no reason to think she couldn't be lucky once in a while! When she asked the fellow Bonéka with a broad hat behind the counter which of the stairs down to take, she didn't think of asking whether she could use the target range in peace, hoping that it would either be empty or crowded enough she could find someone else that was a beginner.  
  
... Well, it certainly wasn't crowded. With not only a target range, but the other training aids, you could probably fit a good twenty people down here... But nope. Only four, herself included. There was a pair absolutely demolishing the dummies in the back, one with rather intricate horns, the other looking as if she just came back from the north pole... But somehow, the Nazrin sitting some distance from them seemed so much better at hogging attention despite doing absolutely nothing.  
  
Not because she was a Nazrin in particular, oh no, Diana was above that kind of thing now. Nor because she had gathered most of her dark grey hair into a barette on the back of her head, as if to show off how the sides of her head were just flat surfaces, and how her Rattata-like ears were perched on top of it. The problem was just that _that was one judging stare_.  
  
What, did Diana really radiate that much weakness? Or was the Nazrin not a shorts afficiando? In that case, she should know just as well that Diana couldn't change out of those!  
  
Diana tried to ignore the stare, flew over to the target range and started reading the instructions. Different colours meant different types, which meant the bullets produced by different cards would be more or less effective at tearing a hole in them, and... Darn it, that stare was just too distracting, she would have to do something about it. Once close enough, Diana asked: "Do you need some-"  
  
The Nazrin jumped in her seat, then stood up with a straight back as if caught asleep at the job. "Sorry, what was the- Ah, yes, I think I might; my teammate and I were supposed to meet up here, and she's late, but if I go looking for her, I'd probably get lost - we don't know this city very well... Sorry, the question is, would you mind warming up with me?"  
  
It took Diana a few seconds to register that first rush of words, but then it hit her. _She had completely forgotten to warm up._ How could that happen? Even if using a spellcard just meant standing there and pressing on it, you needed to get into the fighting spirit first -- everyone knows that!  
  
And even if this Nazrin had quite the unnerving stare when spacing out, she would be a better option than just not warming up at all, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does that count as a cliffhanger? I think that counts as a cliffhanger.
> 
> The naming convention of "Chapter X, part Y" is due to me sticking to the badge system. The chapter number won't change until the badge number does, and currently it's at 0, so...
> 
> It's not exactly conventional to put the sixth catch as your initial POV, is it. I did it anyway, for a number of reasons. I don't like writing convos repeating info that the characters are supposed to already know about each other, and I wanted the first few catches to know each other beforehand (there will also be long-distance friendships in the future, don't you worry). So think The Watson trope.
> 
> For reference: Diana is a so-called _Daiyousei_. Since Daiyousei isn't the name of a character, but rather the most prevalent way to refer to a specific unnamed character, I decided to translate the term for DWLocke as "Great Fairy". However, their unevolved form is referred to as CYousei in-game instead, hence the ordinary part. Sorry about the confusion.
> 
> Ah yes, the rules. They are mostly as Nuzlocke rules go: one catch per route, fainting means I cannot let the member be on the team anymore. However, I decided to divide my catches into the main team and others. The main team could have a maximum of eight members who would switch in and out freely. If I caught someone of a species either used by my rival (Renko) or responsible for a teammember getting kicked out, I couldn't use them in the main team, but they could be used in "certain" situations. And lastly, after the battle against Ishii, I was not allowed to use my starter (Kurumi) anymore for anything other than Flying on the map. Why? I honestly don't remember.
> 
> Current revealed team members:  
>  **Diana** , 6 at catch, from Route 116. Lonely CYousei with Run Away.  
>  **???** , 5 at catch, Route 104. Bold Nazrin with Pickup.


	4. Chapter 1, Part 2: Kick me while I'm down, why don't you

([Currently playing the 'imaginatively' titled: **Fairy of Flower Shop**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/152061167317/))

 

"What the- weren't we just warming up?!"  
  
By the time Diana had finished her stretching, that other pair had already cleared the arena their training dummy used to be on. Such a waste of effort. Standing ten, twenty metres apart with absolutely no obstacles between her and the enemy was not exactly the kind of scenario Diana needed to practice on in the first place...  
  
The Nazrin kept rummaging through her bag. "See, I'm using these." She put the bag aside and showed off a pair of hollow logs, then practiced a few swings with a straight face. "If we were having a sanctioned Gym battle, I would have brought the metal ones."  
  
Well, if so, Diana was lucky enough not to be a Gym member. "... We still wouldn't need the whole arena for that, though..."  
  
"We will see about that." The Nazrin took one half of the arena for herself, Diana the other. Needless to say, both had circle marking for where you were going to stand. The Nazrin got into position for sprinting, wagging her tail. "You're ready?"  
  
Diana tried to copy as best as she could. "Sure–"  
  
And the Nazrin was up in her face. There was a muffled clunk as one of the logs got whacked into her shoulder –  
and broke.  
  
The Nazrin backed off, wide-eyed. Blocked a stray punch. And the jab after that. Got hold of Diana's arm, pulled it, leaned forward for a knee kick. It lost them both their footing, so the Nazrin tried to push Diana down for balance.  
  
Diana's wings vibrated so fast she thought they'd fall off, and she took off toward the ceiling.  
  
She hadn't felt this awake in years. Perfect. Out with the card, aim with the full arm, and - she tapped her finger against the bumpy side. She couldn't check whether those five rounds were forming behind her, but considering the Nazrin had disappeared behind a perfectly normal shield–  
  
yes, it worked! Six of the bullets zoomed by Diana so quickly she couldn't see them. They landed right next to the shield with a soft pitter-patter. Didn't matter! She still had twentysix left! Diana would just have to focus, and...  
  
Hold on.  
  
She couldn't see _anything_. She tried to turn around, - the training dummies, the hallway up to the stairs, the paint on the floor – all gone. Just weak lights from where those other two had been standing, and–  
  
And where were her wings? Why couldn't she move them anymore?!  
  
==-==  
  
"... Well, you're lucky you have a that sturdy hull. Maybe you'd need varnish, too, but this should do it."  
  
"Ah... Great..." Diana sat up on the Center bench (she refused to believe it could be a bed). "I need to ask something, though."  
  
  
"About that panic attack, I imagine. Well, how long did it last?"  
  
"Four seconds, I guess? I mean, I just- slammed down onto something and I could see again..." Also, whatever it was, it was not a panic attack. Panic attacks were things that made humans curl up in a corner for hours, cry and bite their arms or cover their heads (it was kind of hard to tell, sometimes). And sure, Diana needed a bit of help to get up, but then she could run straight to the Center and get herself seated on this thing.  
  
That was the problem, though. She could _run_ all the way. Even after getting inspected, it was like she was wearing an invisible, heavy bag trapping the wings against her back. She wasn't going to have to hop around like a clipped Taillow the rest of the life, was she? "Just- _tell me how long I'll_ –"  
  
"Right, now take it easy." Easy for the nurse to say, he had a comfy chair with wheels to sit on. "We know this is your first time at the Center. At least that you haven't been registered, which should be the same thing. Yes?"  
  
"Well, yeah..."  
  
"I'm going to need some more info from you before I can come with an educated guess about why that happened, and how long it'll last." He grabbed a plate from a nearby shelf and started tapping on it, looked her up and down - green, gold-ish eyes, yellow, pale blue, in that order. "First off: you _are_ a Daiyousei, yes?"  
  
She really needed to remember that was her official title, rather than just 'Ordinary fairy'... "Mhm. And Yang."  
  
"Let's just tick that 'Grass'-hull box too, and... Name, age, occupation?"  
  
"Diana. 16. I've, uh, worked at the Pretty Petal Flower Shop for a while now." And while that wasn't going to change anytime soon, she still had a tough time spitting the name out.  
  
"Fitting. I take it you haven't battled often before this?"  
  
"That's ages ago now, yeah. And this was my first time using a spellcard, too." God, please say that wasn't the reason–  
  
"Which kind of spell is it?"  
  
"Bullet Seed."  
  
All the joviality from his face went away, very slowly. "You didn't buy it, by any chance?"  
  
Thanks for rubbing it in. "It doesn't really matter, does it," Diana said, kicking the air, "I mean, theonlysideeffectstheywarnedmeaboutwere-"  
  
"Not that significant? Well, to put it into perspective, I can only think of a few cases where a newly bought spellcard actively worked against their new owner. ... I'll have to check those for details."  
  
The nurse tapped around on his screen for a bit in silence and didn't seem to care that Diana could fall off if she didn't slow down the kicking. No refunds, they said, no way to remove them until you had more than four - god, wasn't the fact you couldn't back out of it proof it was a bad buy to start with - and to think she wasted so much just to...  
  
No, more importantly, how would she defend herself now? She thought of those 'Wanted' Posters. Of Peeko, who was on some of them. Of old man Briney, of how often the two of them used to visit the shop, by themselves or together. Of when he appeared in TV recently, eyes all dried out, that coarse voice of his saying:  
  
"I don't know why they took her," "I don't know _how_ ," "I just went to take a nap while she did maintenance on our ship and she was just- gone"...  
  
And if they, whoever they were, didn't need any good reasons to decide that Diana would be the next... Well, she couldn't run forever, huh?  
  
"... Bad news." The nurse looked up with a frown and got out of the chair. "I could only find four cases like yours from the last fifty years. And you might have to ask for a quick 'vacation' for this to work out well..."  
  
Diana followed him out of the back room, through the corridor back to the hall. They found the Nazrin still leaning against the wall precisely where they left her. Not too surprising. She had given her name - Natalie, apparently - she had mumbled a sheepish apology for striking too hard, but literally not said anything else since the incident.  
  
Surprisingly, though, she had another fairy for company now. In a better mood, Diana would have compared her to a Iapapa berry. Same skin colour, her red dress flowing down past her feet, and she had her arms crossed with a sour expression. "Don't blame yourself for this... One little Cut can't screw someone over that badly."  
  
"Maybe not, but all I'm saying is-" and then they noticed that Diana had returned. "So, er, how bad is it?"  
  
The Nurse pursed his lips. "I'm sorry, but what you need to do is keep training. Harder than before."  
  
"... And if I don't?"  
  
"Well. If you just want to wait it off, it might take months, even years."  
  
"I don't have that kind of time!" Diana snapped.  
  
The Nurse kneeled down and patted Diana on the shoulder. As if that would be reassuring at all. "Then show that spellcard you're the boss now. Simple as that. If anything else goes wrong, you and your team can always come back, you hear?" Back on his feet, he bowed, said "We hope to see you again!" and left.  
  
"Wait, I-!" But the nurse didn't wait. Diana's shoulders slumped. "... I don't _have_ a team."   
  
Things went quiet for a moment.  
  
Natalie frowned at her fairy friend. "Siri? What's with that face?"  
  
"We've all been there, that's what's with it. Hey, you!" She said, addressing Diana. "We'll help you out with whatever it is, and in return, you'll... hmm... Well, what could you do?"  
  
Diana shrugged.  
  
"The point is, if you need us we'll probably be at the Gym whenever."  
  
"Then I'll, uh... I'll think about it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter in particular needed rewriting, jfc. Even now I'm not entirely happy with it, either...
> 
> Remember the thing about high pain tolerance? ... Yeah. If a Bonéka had written that one PSA, it would be more along the lines of "since we don't have nerves we pretty much don't feel pain until we really need medical attention." Which ironically often makes them very paranoid about stuff that actually does hurt or inconvenience them.
> 
> Peeko and other people getting kidnapped isn't doing wonders for Diana's mental health either. The poor girl. (And we all know whether she will accept or not.)
> 
>  
> 
> When Diana was caught, she only attacked once - Pound the first turn - then spent all her time growling, so it took a few turns to whittle her HP down. Ergo the whole hollow log-thing.
> 
> I considered boxing her eternally until I remembered she was compatible with the Bullet Seed TM. Why? Because Daiyousei have absolute trash for levelup moves. They don't get a STAB move - that one's Razor Leaf, though - naturally until level 21. Until then, they can learn Baton Pass (when she can't learn stat boosting moves until she's 42 and 44, assuming she had an Everstone on her!) and Weather Ball ( _nobody_ has any weather moves at lvl 14, what the hell?!).
> 
>  
> 
> _Current revealed team members:_
> 
>  
> 
>  **Diana** , 6 at catch, Route 116. Lonely CYousei with Run Away.  
>  **Natalie** , 5 at catch, Route 104. Bold Nazrin with Pickup.  
>  **Siri** , 3 at catch, Route 101. Brave Sunny Milk with Vital Spirit.


	5. Chapter 1, Part 3: It's not a secret if you announce it is one

([Currently playing: **This piece of BGM which _still_ doesn't have a title**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/152681293807/))

 

It took Diana less than a day to take the Nurse's offer up.  
  
But what a day _that_ was. With her wings stuck in the most awkward angle possible – sticking out straight to the sides so she was wider than she was tall – doing every single thing just felt wrong. From trying to make it through the front door, to getting into bed, to lying in it on the side like usual.  
  
It was almost impossible to sleep like that. So she spent a lot of the night thinking over that nurse's suggestion to make up for it.  
  
The solution was basically just doing the same thing over and over again until it worked, wasn't it. And now that she could take a step back, the only problem she had experienced during that - whatever it was - apart from the numbness was... whatever happened to her sight. Not much of a problem if she just shut her eyes anyway...?  
  
Maybe it was a dumb train of thought, but Diana would rather try it before condemning herself to all those cramped stairways for Lord knew how long. And so, she went back to the Gym, despite what happened last time she decided to do that.  
  
... Well. While she didn't make any progress with getting her wings to work again, and while it was a mistake to open her eyes in the middle of the spell, there were no major disasters this time.  
  
It felt kind of nice that Siri showed her so much concern over trying it out so early after the accident, too. (Not that she was going to stop Diana, oh no – "you do you"). In fact, over the course of the following days, she started looking forward to seeing her and Natalie specifically whenever she went to the Gym.  
  
And for once, that feeling was mutual. (Probably. It was kind of hard to tell with Natalie.) Despite the Gym's size, and despite the fact that the Bonéka League existed in the first place, professional Bonéka fighting was very much a niche sport in the region. Which meant fewer visitors of the Gym, which meant fewer people for Siri and Natalie to chat with during their breaks. Meanwhile, Diana needed something to distract herself from all this darkness whenever she tried using her spellcard again, so she didn't mind talking back.  
  
The problems with this arrangement didn't appear until one of their training sessions a week or so later, probably longer.  
  
It started with Diana innonciously asking if Siri had any advice to improve her spellcasting. Sure, she had stopped accidentally shooting the wall behind the target, but no bull's-eyes. She still had no way to correct her aiming during the actual spell, either...  
  
Siri had her arms on her hips and hummed. "How about you don't do _that_ ," she said, then mimicked Diana stretching her arm out.   
  
There was no way she held it at a that awkward angle! Also, "I kind of have to if I want to aim at all."  
  
"No you don't? It might take a while to learn, but – here, lemme demonstrate something." Siri casually put her hands behind her back with a little smile; then, there was some sort of fireball about the size of her head floating about around her. She didn't flinch at all. "See? No hands!"  
  
Diana recoiled, despite not being anywhere near it, and despite knowing better. She had seen Siri and Natalie duke it out a few times by now; while Natalie tended to have trouble actually getting up to her, Siri hadn't burned the Gym down yet.  
  
Then again, what was so wrong about a healthy fear of fire? Maybe their Maker had built Siri to handle them, and maybe Natalie was so used to spars she had become completely desentisized to it... But Diana was nothing like them. There was at least one accident she could think of that proved how flammable she was, and why it was a good idea to memorise where the extinguishers were at all times... She shuddered a little and tried batting that thought away. "And you learned how to do that with no hands how?"  
  
Siri hummed. She started waving her hands around as she spoke. "It was kinda gradual, I think. Like, if I found out what my element was _then_ , and that got me hired... How long have I been at the smithy, again..?"  
  
"Wait, the smithy?!" Diana tried imagining Siri back in Oldale, sitting by the anvil, barely able to fit one leg on each side of it due to the dress, a heavy lump of metal about to become a sword lying next to a hammer on the anvil. No offense, but could she lift that sword? Let alone the hammer?  
  
Siri laughed a little and waved her hand dismissively. "I know what you're thinking, it's nothing like that! No, I just make sure they've got just the right size of fire for the furnace. And handle some of the boring stuff."  
  
"Huh..." Diana raised her arm again. "Is this better, by the way?"  
  
"Eh, it'll do for a start."  
  
Right. Diana shut her eyes again and went through that routine again - once she got it started, it pretty much handled itself. "So what about you, Natalie?"  
  
Natalie was, at that moment, busy sharpening a pair of rather fancy metal rods (not entirely unlike those wooden ones in length, but with each end shaped like a letter) against a rock she had been carrying around. "Hm? ... Ah, no, I'm from the Petalburg Gym."  
  
Of all places? Diana gulped. "Must be tough..."  
  
"Where did you hear that?" Uh, pretty much everywhere? "My only issue is our Leader having to step down without a descendant. And even if we find a new candidate soon, the renovation will take a few months... I needed something to do during that time - that's why I challenge the League myself, now."  
  
"Oh, alright... Wait, hold on." A smith from Oldale, and a Gym person from Petalburg? "How come you guys are travelling together, then?"  
  
"Ah, well," Siri began, "it's actually a favour for a–"  
  
"Siri, we promised not to tell everyone." Natalie put the rods down and Diana could practically hear her glaring.  
  
"Yes, but there's a difference between everyone and _anyone_ , Nat! No reason to dodge the issue when someone asks-"  
  
"What are you even talking about?" Diana snapped, turning back at them.  
  
Then, the tension became unbearable. Natalie didn't want to elaborate. Siri wasn't going to and just huffed instead before folding her arms and looking away. So there was just the sound of a target getting drummed on by Diana's...  
  
Hold on.  
  
"Guys," Diana said. She blinked a few times. Looked back at the target - yep, it was still getting battered. By her own bullets. "G-guys! I can see all the time again!"  
  
Natalie gave her a thumbs up and what could barely count as a smile. "... That's great, isn't it. Keep it up."  
  
"A-ah, yeah, congrats!" Siri said. "We should go celebrate that! You know any good places, Dia?"  
  
"Well, there's the, uh..." What the heck, most of the After Work events were held there, why couldn't she remember the name?! "Look, I'll just go tell the people at the Center about it and then we can go, OK?"  
  
==-==  
  
Even Diana could tell how awkward that evening was. Not that that stopped her from trudging up the stairs to home with a big dopey smile on her face. If somebody asked why she looked so tired tomorrow, she could actually say "because I was out with a couple of friends" for once. A nice change of pace. It wasn't that Diana didn't have any friends out of work, no no no, they just happened to be busy whenever she wanted to hang out with them...  
  
She hadn't even reached her room before the iNav in her pocket buzzed. Probably Siri testing whether the number actually worked. She dug the phone out of her coat and paused.  
  
"Look I'm sorry about what Nat did earlier. Tried to explain why that 'confidential |-(' thing was a bad thing to say but NOPE it's flying over her head. I mean. that just made you more curious right?"  
  
Diana stared at the screen blankly for a moment. She slowly tapped something out. "Would you tell me about it?"  
  
She hadn't received any reply when she went to bed, but saying that she had a wall of text waiting for her the next morning would be an understatement. In fact, she found parts of it confusing enough that she asked Siri if they could meet up somewhere so she could clarify what on Earth she was babbling about (though not in those exact terms).  
  
  
  
  
There was probably something off about two beings who couldn't eat or drink to meet up in a café, but hey. The café down the street from Diana's house was one of the few public areas in town with chairs comfier than the Center's.  
  
Siri crossed her legs and sighed. "Right. So what's the part you didn't get?"  
  
"Well, uh–" Diana thought for a moment. "... Right. What's this whole 'robot translator scan' about? I mean – look, when you use a modified Pokéball so you can basically make a copy of us and kidnap it – that copy's a 'scan'."  
  
"Kidnapping? Look, I wouldn't make one, but that sure is one way to put it! Anyhow, it's exactly what it sounds like. Those Saboten people made a robot, they then made a scan of it, and as long as I'm carrying it around like this" – She took a small, grey orb with a few buttons on it out of one of her pockets and handed it over – "I'm basically collecting data on what people are saying so it'll actually learn how Hoennese is supposed to sound. Let's just say it really needs the help..."  
  
Most people would probably have asked themselves about the ethical aspect of recording people talking without their permission. Not Diana. "... Can I have a listen?"  
  
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Siri turned it on, then mumbled something into it and brought it to Diana's ear.  
  
There was a pause. Then an explosion of nouns and adjectives in such a grating voice Diana almost fell out of the chair. "Holy sh– it really _does_ need the help!"  
  
"Right?! So, even though I don't get why the Prof wanted me and Nat in particular to do it, it was as good a reason as any to go travelling again."  
  
There she went 'the Prof' again. Diana almost felt a little jealous that she could talk about **The** Professor Birch so casually... "You've been travelling before?"  
  
"Well, yeah. Mostly short trips to Lavaridge or Slateport, stuff like that, but..." Siri shrunk together in her seat. "... I actually tried taking the League on a while back. We fought Roxanne then, too. So I haven't been to Rustboro since - well, not counting now..."  
  
Oh. Oh no, she actually looked kind of sad now, what to say – "But you've got a better plan this time around right?! It'll probably work out!"  
  
Siri shrugged. "I and Nat have been thinking about something, yeah. But there's the problem with our typings compared to Rox's, and what if we spend so much time fixing that issue that when the other comes up... Wait. Hey now." Siri raised an eyebrow. "Would you mind showing your shield off for a sec?"  
  
Diana obliged. Out of all shields, hers had to be the one overgrown with various vines. They were supposed to defend you against all kinds of damage that you wouldn't be able to take, so why was it just as susceptible to fire as herself? "It's a great umbrella but dunno about its battle properties..."  
  
"What are you talking about, it's great!" Siri leaned forward with sparks in her eyes. "Look, if you don't agree with this it's perfectly fine, but I think I have a better idea than earlier, now..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand yet another obvious cliffhanger.
> 
> This chapter feels so long but I'm probably deluding myself again :v: .
> 
> For some reason I'm actually kind of happy with this! There are a few plot threads hanging that I really should take care of, and it might be that the scenes jump around a bit, but for the first time I actually felt like "I can't bring that up now, it'd cut the red thread off" - which means there's probably actually some continuity going on for once! :sun:
> 
> There's also the fact that it helped me realise just how far I came in my character designing since I started drafting DWL... I would come with my own character analysis here but - nah, that'd probably be better to do at the end of this chapter. We still have one part (or two if things don't go well) to go.
> 
> Bonéka partying is not too different from human partying, so I skipped it because I know next to nothing about human partying. It also helps that I didn't want any more of that ~awkward tension~ right now, since it's pretty much impossible to write. The biggest difference is that, since Bonéka can't eat or drink (they lack a digestive system and all that), they don't get drunk in quite the same sense. Just imagine that they went to a miniature Game Corner or something, why don't you, I wouldn't be surprised if Devon made something like that...
> 
> As for what Diana said about scans. Yeah, she really doesn't like the idea of them. In this 'locke, the first Pokéballs showed up two decades or so ago, and then the Scans about a decade after that. When Diana was younger and way easier to influence. They were... polarising, to put it likely, and she just happened to hang out with people who opposed the idea more. But rest assured that about 95% of scans were made with the original Bonéka's consent. And depending on the Trainer handling the scan, they usually get decent compensation.
> 
> While I'm on the subject: I actually came to think about the scans very soon before I started posting the story on the forums, and put them in so I could explain why there are so many enemy Trainers when there are so few Bonéka in Hoenn. Which means more time spent on worldbuilding and stuff...


	6. Chapter 1, Part 4: When Underground Battles Become Legal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _It hasn't been too long since Diana met up with the pair... And yet, she's going to help them out with the Gym Battle? How is this going to work?!_

([Currently playing: **Levelheaded**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/153181406892/))

  
When Diana first met Roxanne, the first and only word she could think of was: imposing. Nearly everything made her look the sort that wouldn't be impressed by anything; that massive tie, the grey dress jutting out, the way she had towered proud and tall over Diana while saying: "Now let's head down, shall we?"  
  
  
That feeling was not diminished one bit now that they were underground, in the _proper_ arena they had beneath the Gym - so far beneath, in fact, that they had needed to take an elevator down. The _proper_ one with the dome-shaped ceiling with not only enough flashlights to illuminate an entire building, but various rough stones sticking out to it. Roxanne had explained that the proper arena needed the distance and - various other things Diana hadn't been able to remember - to save the museum's exhibits from the quakes simulated during other battles, so why the stones...?  
  
A small pair of cameras were also stuck in the ceiling, one of them focused on that one guy with a green suit and pointy hair as he formally introduced the battle. Diana couldn't see him from the foot of the stairs, but she assumed he was staring into the camera with that unsettlingly cheery face of his the whole time; he didn't exactly have any live audience to explain anything to, after all. "... What a shame that the benches are completely empty today, right, Roxanne?"  
  
"I'm not surprised, honestly," the Leader replied in a manner that did not help ease the tension at all. She raised one hand from her drawer, cleared her throat and then pointed straight at Siri and Natalie. "Alright! I will assume you two remember the rules" - she moved on to Diana - "but I don't recall seeing _you_ when your friends scheduled this."  
  
"I-it's fine," Diana stuttered, "I know what to do!"  
  
"Then would you kindly demonstrate that to us?"  
  
Diana screamed on the inside. Natalie hadn't tried hammering the rules of this battle into her skull for half a month for nothing - the question was just how to put the things she had said into her own words. "All moves are accepted," Natalie had said; even the unfair or utterly ridiculous ones. So Diana didn't have to worry about going too far with some off-kilter idea and getting disqualified. Every fighter was allowed to forfeit individually at any time - that meant giving the opponent a point, though, and you couldn't have that. Especially not now, when they were three against two of Roxanne's subjects (was that really the right word, though?) - if Roxanne got two points, they would be kicked out of here. On live TV, at that. Natalie always seemed to shudder at that part specifically, and now Diana knew exactly why.  
  
Fortunately, Diana realised at some point that Roxanne had decided to reiterate those rules to the audience herself. Unfortunately, by the time she was finished, her own team were half asleep. While the pair did look quite alike, it was pretty obvious they were different species: both wore fancy hats over their blue hair, but whereas one had a fairly straightforward dress, the other had been covered in various pink scarves of different intensities. No way to tell what kind of hull she had, or anything like that.  
  
"... So!" Roxanne shouted, jolting them awake. "Tess, why don't you go first this time around?"  
  
"Riiight..." The one with the dress dragged her feet over to the stage and waited.  
  
Siri nudged Diana in the shoulder, whispering: "Why'd the Tenshi go first this time?!"  
  
Why was she so snappy all of a sudden? Diana shook her head, swallowed - and then it hit her what that meant.  
  
Ah. Oh no. She had to go out first. Time to put herself in that small circle on her half, wait for a proper announcement the battle was about to begin, and just...  
  
Breathe.  
  
Tess closed her eyes and clasped her hands together as if she was holding something. Concentrated. A sword, or at least something similar enough, formed in her hands, the blade looking just like a chunk of the ceiling.  
  
And suddenly, she threw it straight at Diana.  
  
Diana's instincts kicked in - the shield was up before the sword had reached her, a stray vine tangling itself around the sword without her planning to.  
  
'Holy shit', she thought.  
  
The shield faded. The sword fell with a thump. She fired blindly around Tess' head.  
  
Tess just ducked, lept, ducked again and again until she reached the sword, grabbed it. Slashed.  
  
Diana's aim didn't improve despite the smaller distance.  
  
She was completely oblivious to the incredulous look on Roxanne's face, to the green suited man commentating: "this matchup might not be as onesided as you'd expect from these types!".  
  
At some point, Siri had grabbed onto Natalie's arm, watching breathlessly, and Natalie had pushed her off.  
  
Everything was a mess. Dodging and slashing. Blocking and shooting. Tess occasionally pulling stunts like seemingly pulling pieces from the ceiling.  
  
Things that normally would scare Diana witless, but since she already was witless when it started... Strangely nostalgic, too. It was like the scuffles she would do when she was younger. With more stuff flying at you from every direction, but less jabs in the gut or elsewhere. She barely knew what was going on but it was almost _fun_ , and...  
  
A shout from Natalie broke her out of the trance. "Out of the way!" Diana obliged, arm raised in case she needed to retaliate, but nothing came.  
  
She paused, realised that she was wheezing. Wait. Did Tess just shove that sword into the ground?  
  
... Yes, she did. Tess had just shoved that sword into the ground. There were little cracks around it on the floor and everything.  
  
... Had she won?  
  
Roxanne sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Tess, you've already forfeited, you're not pulling that stunt off now."  
  
"Oh, come on, just a decimetre deep crack across the-"  
  
"No."  
  
Grumbling, Tess made the sword crumble into dust and then staggered off the ring.  
  
She had! Diana did the same, breathlessly chuckling despite herself, and slumped down next to Natalie on the challengers' bench.  
  
Natalie scooted away slightly and gulped. "What is it? Do we need to take you to the Center again?"  
  
"Not everyone has your stamina, Nat, give her a moment... No, really, I can't believe you did it!" Siri suddenly gave Diana a hug, so quickly Diana could swear she heard a scratch, then got up and paced around in circles.  
  
"... You can't?"  
  
"Just maybe?" Natalie sat up straight again. "You're only facing an electric type. The worst-case scenario would be paralysis, and even then we have too many Cheri..."  
  
There was a bell ringing and an announcement that 'Isa' was already in place, so the challengers should choose a volunteer already. Needless to say, that would be Siri, who immediately got in position.  
  
The greensuited man coughed. "The second round begins in three, two, one..."  
  
And Siri was off the ground with a grunt. She buzzed all around the ring, made a little fire the size of her palm and sent it flying toward Isa.  
  
Very slowly. Isa could dodge it almost casually before pointing at Siri. There was a zap - fortunately, Siri landed and went down on one knee before her wings started twitching madly.  
  
Isa meandered toward Siri with a wide grin, but stopped when she heard Roxanne shouting something in exasperation: "Behind you!"  
  
Isa didn't even look as she brought her shield up, crackling with electricity. The fire hit, quickly spread out like a thin wrapper over its entire surface.  
  
She paused for a second as she realised what this meant.  
  
Not only a timelimit, but no way of using her spellcards until they were doused.  
  
She gritted her teeth in frustration (as did Roxanne) and sprinted toward Siri.  
  
Siri threw dust she had gathered up in the air - Isa abruptly stopped as Siri pounced, trying to throw the rest of the sand into Isa's face. Just as Isa had expected - still covering her face, she moved her shield around like a sledgehammer - smacked Siri with it, sparks and flames and all.  
  
Siri was flung aside, rolled toward the edge of the ring. Somehow, that just added fuel to the fire. She hadn't quite managed to get back up when Isa called for a time-out and dashed back to her corner - but she was still getting there.  
  
Roxanne pursed her lips. She opened the drawer, pulled a green spray bottle out of it, and proceeded to spray its contents over Isa's shield. She crinkled her nose at the bitter smell of the foam. "That's that... Alright. Ready to go?"  
  
"I'd... rather forfeit, honestly," Isa said.  
  
Roxanne blinked a few times. "... You're sure about that?"  
  
Isa leaned over the rail and started whispering. "Listen, I don't know what's wrong with that goddamn fairy, but she's got it out for me. Better stop before she loses it."  
  
Roxanne glanced at Siri and hummed, shuddering. "I see what you mean. It's just their first badge..." So why were they all fussing about it so much? She reached into the drawer again to grab three of the Stone badges lying there, as well as a spare spellcard left there. "I..." She raised her head and voice. "I declare this battle over, in favour of the challenger!"  
  
It was always tough to ignore how cheerful that commentator sounded while repeating that her side had lost, and all that studying beforehand was for nothing. But hey. That was his job. And it was her part-time job to oversee battles and try to come with some inspirational speech afterwards no matter how they ended, wasn't it?  
  
See, this was why Roxanne wasn't particularly fond of fighting people with no badges. If they had heard it all before, there was no shame in flubbing it. But that greenhaired fairy who had flubbed through the first part of the fight was still all starryeyed and, frankly, a bit offputting in her enthusiasm. Where did all this adrenaline come from and why hadn't it subsided yet?  
  
Right, a speech. "I think we all learned something today. ... While some of us may be leaving this Gym thinking we could have done so much better, we will just have to learn from their mistakes. The challengers should also remember that things are only going to get tougher from now on." Eh, good enough. "Do any of you have anything in particular to say?"  
  
Diana grinned widely. "Well, I'd kinda like to do this again someday! That was just- ..." She stopped as if she wanted the others to fill in the blank, but no such luck.  
  
"Rest assured that if you're taking the League challenge, you'll have to. At least six times, depending on how the situation in Petalburg pans out... Anyway, as is tradition within the Bonéka League, all of you will not only receive a replica of this Gym's emblem each, but a spellcard donated by one of our former teammates, bless her soul. Make sure to use it wisely."  
  
The last moments of that conversation that were broadcast was Siri staring down at that spellcard, looking as if she would snap it in half at any moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty glad with how Levelminded came out. My only problem is that when I tried to export the MIDI and play that with a soundfont that actually sounds like realistic instruments, it suddenly nosedived in quality at some points...
> 
> I went to check Bulbapedia again, and apparently Rox is only a teacher in the anime?! I could've sworn she was one in RSE too - that one guy who says he scolded her in class certainly gives that impression... So that's what I'm sticking with. Despite that I'm going with the ORAS design because it's, frankly, way better than her original one IMO. It's the tie and the hair. <3
> 
> Fighting Roxanne in World Link, though. She actually had three team members here, too, but two of them were both Tenshis so I combined them into one fight.
> 
> It was really weird how much longer the first Tenshi lasted than the second. The first lasted like 5 turns due to a few factors. The second? I was really fuckign afraid of fighting her because she had Hisou Sword - basically Rock-type Hyper Beam with Fissure graphics... Except she missed. And then Bullet Seed whittled her down not little by little, but a lot by a lot, and she was KOed by the end of the turn. I was really relieved about it but What the heck.
> 
> Then there was the Iku (Isa). Siri missed with her first Will-o-Wisp, and my mood turned even sourer because the Iku then successfully paralysed Siri. Well, another Will-o-wisp wouldn't hurt... And then I remembered that all Iku's attacks are Special so it didn't matter much. A lot of Sand-attack and healing spam happened... But Iku only used Shock Wave once, preferring to Dragon Rage Siri within an inch of her life. Guess the A.I thought the damage output would be bigger even with the accuracy loss. Then I switched out to Nat, who Quick Attacked Iku twice before I won. Which would be a relatively boring way to end that battle, so I cut it out. This part of the battle took 11 turns in total, GEEZ.
> 
> I was actually considering portaying the battle against Isa first, then Tess. But considering how brutal the Isa section is compared to Tess...
> 
> Diana is such an odd character to write! On one hand she's a bit of a scaredycat, on the other she feels all nostalgic about fighting for fun and sees it in a way too positive light. I had to write this section so she wouldn't be put off from battling, so the obvious solution was to have her high on leftover adrenaline by the time Siri's part happened. Orrr whatever the BonÃ©ka physiology equivalent is :v:
> 
> ... holy shit, Siri's angry. I don't think I left enough clues that you can piece together why, but I'll leave that for part 4.5 aka Siri remains pissed off during the night ~* **and now we know exactly why** *~.


	7. Chapter 1, Part 5: Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The deed is done. Roxanne's badge is theirs now, they received a spellcard that could be useful in the future, they have a decent profile on Rustboro speech for the translator to use._
> 
>  
> 
> _So why can't Natalie feel good about it?_

(Currently listening to: nothing. I thought it would fit the scene better. Apologies.)

 

 

There were a lot of things that flew straight over Natalie's head. Puns. Backhanded compliments. Why certain things she said or did cause those subtle changes in people's faces (assuming she noticed their face in the first place).  
  
That said, she immediately noticed something off about Siri's behaviour after their battle.  
  
For practically having won it by herself, Siri showed a startling lack of pride. She put the badge into her wallet unceremoniously along with her share of the prize money, practically shoved that new spellcard she just won them into Natalie's arms, and didn't say much at all on their way back to the Center.  
  
Natalie had planned to report her progress to Kogan, back at home, as soon as she had left the museum. But Diana chattered away the whole trip to compensate for Siri's quietness, and it would be kind of rude not to pay attention to that. Even if, to be frank, Diana's half of the battle wasn't quite as dangerous or exciting as she made it out to be...  
  
Ah, well. While she hadn't quite gotten her flight back yet, her wings were jittering with excitement. Progress.  
  
Once in the Center, Diana didn't follow the others up the stairs. "I'm gonna go chat with the doctor about that, can I go up and ask you something later?"  
  
"Just ask now," Natalie said - but halfway through, Diana was gone.  
  
Darn it.  
  
The visit itself wasn't the problem - Natalie just wondered how three people would fit there.  
  
When arriving in Rustboro, they miscalculated how much they would need to spend on rooms and asked for the smallest room possible for two. Basically, all they had here was a bunk bed and a chair by a desk. And a bathroom, but that didn't count when neither needed to use anything other than the sink.  
  
Siri climbed up to the top bunk and stayed there, not coming with any of her usual tourist-like remarks to go visit this or that place in town.  
  
Well, whatever the problem was, the best course of action was probably to leave her alone. Sharing rooms had worked decently so far, there was no reason to ruin it this early into their mission. Natalie never liked poking around in other people's business, anyway.  
  
' _Stay in your own lane. Find something else to do_.' Natalie focused, tried to sense where she put that book about spellcard compability... Oh, somewhere in the desk, of course. It didn't take too long to pull it out and go straight to the section titled _Rock Tomb_.  
  
"Summons big boulders. Critical hits take the shape of considerably sharp, pointy rocks. While deadly if it makes direct contact with the foe, most able-bodied Bonéka should be able to dodge it entirely or shield it reasonably well, provided they haven't been paralysed or otherwise slowed down." Accurate enough. There was also a painting looking almost exactly like the card itself, and most importantly, the list of Bonéka confirmed to be able to create it.  
  
Huh. Kogan was there. Her kind, anyway. Natalie briefly considered heading back home just to gift it to her before they headed on to Dewford. Not much of a detour. But then again...  
  
It was far too easy to imagine Kogan with one hand wrapped around her tsukumogami half, the other pushing Natalie's back. "Natalie. I appreciate the effort, but - I... I don't want to be out there, myself. It's better for us if you just- I don't know, give it to someone else?" And she was probably busy helping out with the renovating, anyway...  
  
In the end, Natalie just kept scrolling through the surprisingly long list. Ah! She hummed to herself and looked up, even though she couldn't see Siri from here. "Turns out I could use that card we won." No response. "It's probably not worth it, though, so I'll leave it alone for now. Too risky."  
  
"... 'Too risky' is putting it mildly."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Another pause. Natalie almost hoped it would last longer; Siri sounded so dry, it was unnerving. "I had this friend, a while back. We thought we'd go try and beat the League sometime. You know why people started arguing that you should have human Leaders in a Bonéka League."  
  
Of course. The dispute had gone on during most of Natalie's life, and it started because people didn't want the Leader to actively partake in the battle, which was necessary because some Leaders of old went so far in trying to keep their win streak that they...  
  
Oh.  
  
Natalie's mind drew a blank. It was one thing to accept that her line of work was full of risks, dangerous enough it killed people until relatively recently. Another entirely that those had relatives or friends she would ever need to take into account - with her own Gym's relatively clean history, those problems seemed so far away... Yet here they were.  
  
"So, yeah," Siri said, turning away again. "I'd like to be happy it worked out today, really, but it's just - it's like when I actually knew how to prevent that from happening again, it didn't matter much. Only difference it made was that I didn't leave the Gym paralysed, badgeless - alone, again..."  
  
' _Come on, say something, anything._ ' "Which is - a considerable difference already."  
  
"Maybe, but-" Siri didn't get further than that before there was a knock on the door. She sat up straight and rubbed her eyes, sighing. "Would you-"  
  
"I'll go get it, yes." Predictably, Natalie opened the door to find Diana waiting.  
  
Diana looked around the room with a nervous frown. "I'll just come back later, alright?"  
  
"No, you've left us hanging long enough," Siri replied. How Siri managed to sound that much more cheerful (for want of a better word) so quickly, Natalie had no idea.  
  
Natalie hastily pulled the book off the desk and remained by the door after closing it. "So what's the problem?"  
  
Diana looked back as if to say 'that's my line!', but just took a seat by the desk. "Yeah, so, basically... The Doc told me about these archives I should go check out. Basically, a register of everyone who's ever donated a spellcard. If I went there and checked who was responsible for that Bullet Seed, that could help us find out why it - freaked out on me. The problem's that they're in Lilycove and the Slateport Embassy, and you can't borrow them because it's just that important they stay there..."  
  
"And since we'll be passing through Slateport anyway, you want to join us."  
  
"For a while, anyway! ... That's fine, right?"  
  
Natalie glanced over at Siri, who nodded and said "Of course!", before clearing her throat. "I've no objections either." Even if there were a few things they would have to go over first, now wasn't the best time.  
  
The other two chatted a bit about what Diana should and shouldn't pack before she left again. The door slammed shut, and it felt like they were muted after that.  
  
Now what? Natalie fidgeted a bit. "So, as you were saying earlier...?"  
  
"... Never mind." Siri climbed down the ladder. "Just because you needed to know doesn't mean I like talking about it. The point's that I wouldn't wish what happened to her on anyone, so... How about I just go back to the Gym and ask if they can take it back."  
  
"Go ahead." Natalie watched Siri very reluctantly take the card back, grab her keys, and open the window. "But before you leave."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Natalie swallowed. "If anyone didn't making a difference today, it's me. I shouldn't have stood around by the sidelines the whole time." The old Leader wouldn't be proud. "Apologies."  
  
Siri gave a tired smile. "Don't sweat it. You've got a lot of time to make up for that." With that, she flew out of the window.  
  
For the first time since she set off travelling, Natalie was finally, genuinely left alone. And for some reason, that didn't relieve her at all. Sooner or later, she would have a new Leader. There must be someone qualified out there who would want to do it full time, or at least someone who could find a secondary use for the Gym. And then she would go back home for good, hopefully get promoted to a higher rank - _if she just did something worthwhile first_.  
  
So. How much time did she have, really?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is like a punch to the dick in that I pretended the battle went swell, and then it didn't. Sorry about that.
> 
> I had one death during the Gym Battle, and another while grinding for it. How could I depict that without the other characters giving up in despair? By confining the dead characters to backstory, obviously!
> 
> Kogan, that old associate of Natalie's, was the 102 catch: a Timid Kogasa. The character Kogasa (last name Tatara) is a so-called _Tsukomogami_ , a kind of being born from all sorts of mundane objects - in her case, an umbrella. In the hack, she takes the place of Zigzagoon, giving Birch a perfectly understandable reason to run away from her - google her and just look at that freaky umbrella! Due to the fact that a Kogasa also takes the Zigzagoon's place in the catching tutorial, I decided that she would work at the same Gym as Natalie. But if she refuses to fight, what is she doing in a Gym? Well, I promise that that question will be answered - though probably, you'll forget you asked yourself that before I get around to it, pfft.
> 
> Astra was the Route 102 catch who died against Roxanne: a Hardy Star Sapphire. Despite the character being a fairy associated with, well, Stars, she is a Water-type, hence why I began the Gym battle with her in the lead... Now, you'd think that Hisou Sword would have killed Astra, since it's a way too strong move for the first Gym, but it didn't. It was the first Tenshi critting with a Rock Tomb. Needless to say it spoiled the mood the rest of the battle for me.
> 
> It's not an official rule here, but I do tend to avoid giving my 'mons moves that killed their teammates when I'm Nuzlocking, out of respect. So while I didn't throw Rock Tomb away, I just let it rot in my bag for a long while.
> 
> ... On another, slightly cheerful note, we finally see somebody's ability in action. If in a very minor role. Natalie, being a Nazrin, is essentially a living Itemfinder when she's putting her mind to anything in particular. As a result, she's not very careful with where she places her stuff - and if she forgets about something, it might as well be gone.


	8. Intermission 2, or: "A matter of life and death"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another intermission before we go on to the second chapter. This time, we get not one outsider's view on Bonéka lifespans, but two! ... even if the first one is somewhat clueless on the subject.

To: phoebe4@bonekaleague.devon.com

From: mort@elite.officialpokemonleague.ml

Subject: Bonéka Lifespans

 

Hello.

You're probably wondering why I sent you this when you don't know me, and vice versa. I have tried to do my research elsewhere... But it's all still quite hard to understand to me as an outsider - and we just happen to be fellow Ghost-specialists, so it stands to reason that we could discuss this kind of matter relatively easily.

I am inclined to guess that all Bonéka weaponise their spirits during battle, because their spellcards seem to be connected with their very lifeforce; they are born and die by them. Which leads me to my next question. What happens to them after death? I have heard that you often go to Mt. Pyre to speak with the deceased; do you ever find Bonéka among them? Or do people use their husks as... No, that's perhaps a too morbid assumption - better question, do they live on after the body dies because their spirit divorces itself from it, and find another one to claim?

 

Morty

* * *

To: mort@elite.officialpokemonleague.ml

From: phoebe4@bonekaleague.devon.com

Subject: Re:Bonéka Lifespans

 

I don't get how it works either, tbh.

 

All I know is that Bonéka AREN'T just possessed normal dolls. Dunno if you actually believe that but that's what it sounds like from how you wrote all that. How they're born is way more odd and just straight up bizarre than that - you're probably sitting down already but if you aren't, do.

 

They basically hatch from magic eggs the size of a 5-year old.

 

Don't ask me how it works. Don't ask anyone from my team how it works, either - most of them have made clear that they won't even try until they've retired. Probably because whatever spell they use to make those eggs is really taxing on them. I'm not kidding - the ones who have tried making eggs by themselves usually don't have a lot of time left afterwards. The safest bet for those who want to see their kids grow up is performing the spell in pairs of one yin and one yang. The result isn't too different from Pokémon breeding, actually! Yin mum usually passes their ability and typing on, yang mum formalities like spellcard emblem. (sometimes colours too but let's not get into that

 

So with that out of the way, on to the actual question. Like I said, Ghosts are in tune with the same spirit world the rest of us go to - some even dedicate their lives to calming the newly dead and helping them get to Mt. Pyre safely! ... But not everyone's that lucky. I've been to Mt. Pyre a lot of times, and I don't think I've ever seen a Fighting or a Normal-type Bonéka that wasn't there to mourn someone else. I'm sure that Normal ghosts are around somewhere, I don't know where, though.

 

But no matter what type the ghost is, it doesn't stay around forever. After a few years of being dead, they just - vanish somewhere. So basically, their life/death cycle works on the same logic as everyone else. Their spirits are made up of gathered lifeforce, just like the rest of us' - Our's? idk - and after a while it gets released so others use it. Recycling at its best, don't you think!

P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original A/N for this:  
> "I don't get it. How are people so good with recreating Skype logs. Whenever I try I get sooo stuck... So have normal mails.
> 
> Or, well. Normal mail discussing fucked up subject matters. On the plus side it helps to convey how outright alien Bonéka are on a biological level, on the minus side... it helps to convey the very same thing. That said, I still think HSoWA is worse..."
> 
> Don't have much to add now. Mostly because I didn't edit this at all. The only difference is that I originally published this along with Chapter 2, part 3; I decided that placing it here before I rewrote chapter 2 was a better choice for pacing reasons.


	9. Chapter 2, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Guess who forgot about uploading this to ao3 for about half a year? This had repercussions I wasn't expecting which just hit me like a sledgehammer. So I'm going to upload the updates now even though they're kind of crappy (ughhhh going over my old writing isn't too fun at times), add music links later.

([Currently playing the 'imaginatively' titled: **Forest**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/155434516742/))

 

Well, Siri didn't exactly imagine they would be this sentimental.

 

That flower shop Diana worked at was new enough that Siri didn't remember it at all from last time she was at Rustboro - and you could definitely tell just by looking at it. The shop itself was tiny, and the fence next to it not too impressive. Anyone could sneak by and steal some of their berries at night, she'd wager... That was beside the point - the point was that Diana couldn't have been here for many years.

 

And yet, the three siblings that actually owned the shop were very adamant about saying goodbye properly when she was about to leave. Sure, the oldest - or tallest, though with humans that was usually the same thing - was professional about it and simply asked Nat and her to take care of their employee before heading back into shop to do some paperwork or something. But the middle one had pulled Diana straight into a bear hug that wasn't over yet. "You come back soon, you hear?"

 

"Yeah," the youngest chimed in, "but make sure you plant those seeds first!"

 

Not that Siri was complaining. It was just a bit weird that there was this disconnect between this and her old friends at the smithy. Sure, some had been very worried, for good reason. But assuming everything went well with those archives, Diana wouldn't be gone for long at all in comparison... Hold on, "what seeds?"

 

Diana pulled away and started rummaging around in her (fairly bloated) bag. Then another little pouch in that. Turned out there were a lot of seeds in it, in various shapes. "I got these just in case we found any good soil... Mostly just Oran, though."

 

Natalie asked to take a closer look at them. "Oran, as in potion ingredients? ... Well, even raw, I'd wager they're better than nothing. Thank you."

 

The middle sister just smiled back, then glanced above everyone else at the Petalburg Forest behind them. "Look, isn't that...?" She raised her hand and suddenly bellowed: "Hey, Winnie!"

 

Siri jumped and checked behind her. Yeah, there seemed to be another couple preparing to head in: a redhead in a coat, and someone almost entirely in teal. The teal one looked familiar to her, somehow, especially that green cap on top of her head; the red one just stood still for a moment, then raised her arm in a similar manner before hurrying on into the forest.

 

Diana frowned, as if she was thinking the same thing. "Yeah, maybe we should get going..."

 

But as with most times somebody says those words, they ended up dallying around for quite a while before Natalie reminded them how urgent it was that they got this over with.

 

-=-

 

"Nat, just _try_ to take it easy?"

 

Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to let Natalie lead the way this time. Sure, they had maps of the area ready, and the parts of Petalburg Forest that weren't a regional preservation area had enough signs and fences to prove it was safe for anyone to travel through, regardless of whether they could use Repels or not... But to say she acted as if they weren't there was quite the understatement. It was a given that the middle of a forest would have a lot of sudden noises in the background, but whether it was the distant cry of a Shroomish or just a Taillow chasing unfortunate bugs nearby, Natalie would immediately back away, iron rods ready and tail wagging anxiously.

"... I am taking it easy."

Siri just scoffed at that and glanced over at Diana, busy typing away on her iNav. "I mean, look at how casual Diana is about walking around here-"

"What?" Diana hastily put the Nav away. "Yeah, since I've been taking walks around here and stuff..." She looked around as if to check how far they had gone, and suddenly pointed at some bushes. "Oh, we almost missed that shortcut."

"There's a shortcut?"

"Several, actually, from what I heard!"

Natalie looked at the map and groaned. "Why didn't we know this earlier... More importantly, how much time would we save?"

Diana shrugged. "Half an hour with the first one, maybe? I never went far enough to check the other ones."

"Right, then I don't see a reason we shouldn't try it!" Siri said, already flying above the first few bushes. A few more, and they gave away for a ledge - and below it, the main road again. She sat down at the edge of the ledge, feet dangling. "Seems good enough to me."

Now, normally she would have admired the landscape at this kind of opportunity while waiting for the other two to get through - she doubted it would be as easy by foot - except she couldn't see much of the landscape around here. Not only fences, but way too many trees had been planted by the side of the road... What was worse, many of those trees had grown old enough to sprout branches that intertwined way above them, so there was little to no sunlight coming through, even now during the middle of the day. Heck, she could barely see the ground beneath her feet. Maybe, if she tried summoning a torch to light the way things would be different - but judging by last time the others didn't exactly want to put up with the risks that came with it...

How disappointing. No wonder that back when they would do day trips to Rustboro, they would just skip the forest entirely by flying above it.

A lot of rustling and worrying that stuff had randomly fallen out of anyone's pockets later, Diana, then Natalie finally emerged. They started checking themselves for any bugs that could have gotten stuck onto them. None. Good. That meant they could jump down at one, two, three, and keep walking...

That had been the plan, anyway. But it was pretty hard to follow it when, as soon as you landed, two peoples _you didn't even know would be there in the first place_ reacted drastically.

The teal one immediately went to hide behind the redhead, and the air started to crackle and pop - god damn it, please don't say this would be a repeat of the one with that one Iku - and shouted: "Why're y'all following us?"

"No no nonono, look! We're just here to-"

Most of Diana's explanation went ignored; the redhead raised one arm and soundlessly mouthed "calm down", then brought a notepad out and started scribbling something for the teal one to see.

They both looked up once Diana mentioned passing by Briney's, though. "Why just pass by if y'all are headed for Dewford, huh?"

"Because," Natalie began, "he stopped ferrying people since his assistant disappeared-"

"What are ya on about? She's right in front of you!" The teal one - no, what was her name again, Peeko? - turned on her heel. "... Come on, Winnie, they need me back home."

'Winnie' just shook her head, the antennae on top of it swaying slightly, and added one last thing to the notepad. Noticing the curious looks this earned her, she held it up so Siri et. al could read what it said: "It's Windsor". She flipped over to another page that already had "I'm just bodyguarding her for now alright" written on it before leaving.

Siri just stared after them until they disappeared in the dark.

Oh.

_Oh._

That explained why she seemed so familiar, if nothing else. But even then, with all that attention she got when she was gone... "You'd think her coming back from wherever she was would be all over the news. Have you guys heard anything?"

Diana hummed. "Yeah, this morning I saw there was - no, that's probably unrelated... Can't hurt to check later, though."

"If someone went as far as to kidnap her, it makes sense that they wouldn't want everyone to know her whereabouts." Natalie shrugged - and just like that, she was off. "Let's just get moving, ourselves."

" **Natalie**." Siri ran up to her and unwittingly started whisperyelling. "I know I can keep up, but maybe we shouldn't push the new guy so hard."

"We all agreed we wouldn't take any breaks until we were in the rafts. I don't see the problem."

"The problem's that you're walking so fast all the time!"

"Right, I apologise..." Natalie slowed down just enough for it to be noticeable - well, it would do for a start. "By the way. Assuming that Briney starts working again within a few days, we could afford hiring a trip across the canal in an actual boat."

"Ah, I was about to suggest that. ... Would it be too much to stop by their house later?"


	10. Chapter 2, Part 2

([Currently playing: **Lotus Tree**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/156032905057/))

 

Apparently, it _wasn't_ too much to visit Briney's cottage immediately.

 

As soon as the group came anywhere near it, they started hearing the old man himself shouting things like "I could have sworn I heard a thump from over there," presumably to Peeko. Presumably about the state of the ship that she was examining from the inside. The ship didn't look in that bad shape to Siri - but then again, she wouldn't know; unless it was being used to extinguish something haywire, she'd rather not be near water for too long. "... How about we ask when they're ready to leave right now?"

 

"Sure - and if we can take a break in his house," Diana replied. Oh dear, she was absolutely winded. "Though - just sitting here's fine too..."

 

Natalie looked out over the beach with much less enthusiasm, probably having seen it a billion times. "I suppose. The sunset looks fairly nice from here. ... We'd better make sure to get to Petalburg before it's really dark, though."

 

"Really? It's basically a straight line from here, so no risk of getting lost, right?"

 

"The city itself is a different matter entirely..."

 

Siri decided to leave them to their own devices and go talk to Briney about to head into the ship. The bridge whistling and whining under her feet got his attention before she even said hi.

 

"Ah, hello!" He said, ever so cheerfully. "I don't think I've seen you around here before!"

 

"Probably not. The name's Siri, I was just going to ask if my team and I could-"

 

"Say no more, I've heard that question plenty. As you can tell, the ship needs a little bit of maintenance..."

 

'I don't see that at all,' Siri thought.

 

"But we actually have a lift scheduled for tomorrow. If you don't mind that lass' company, there's probably room for all four of you, too! Let me check with my assistant when we could be off, alright?"

 

"... Four?"

 

Siri heard more creaking from the bridge, running - and then somebody's hands slammed down on her shoulder. "Oh, you _know_ who he means!"

 

Natalie looked up from her conversation and walked over. "Renko? What on Earth are you doing here?"

 

Siri knew exactly how to push Renko off by now, and so she did. "It's been so long!"

 

"Yeah, right, I PMed you yesterday!" Renko raised her hands and started adjusting her trademark hat. Since last time they met, that seemed like the only part of Renko's attire that hadn't changed somehow: she had a few pockets along a new white belt, and rather than the dress she used to lounge around the Lab in, pants of a similar dark blue hue were covering her legs. "My buddy and I just unpacked our stuff over at the Center. Fell straight into the bed, too. After paddling all day, who can blame her."

 

Siri tried to imagine that 'buddy' doing any physical work, after all these years she had never been seen out of the Lab. It was almost impossible. "Nobody can."

 

"True," Natalie said. "After managing to beat the Dewford Gym first, no less."

 

Renko pulled that mock-irritated look. "Hey now, what's so surprising about that? If anything, I should be asking how you two managed Rustboro."

 

"Well, I helped..."

 

Renko looked over at Diana, as if she hadn't noticed she was there. "Huh, so you got yourselves a new member. Tends to help."

 

"Yeah, the name's Diana. And- sorry, but I didn't quite catch yours?"

 

"It's Renko - you gotta go koh! at the end. ... Though if that's too hard, Ms. Birch is fine, too."

 

Diana took a second to process that. "Wow, I didn't know the Professor had family!"

 

Renko froze up for a second. "At least you actually believe it now..."

 

Siri spotted Briney hopping off the drawbridge like noone's business and getting into his house - but not before giving the warning that ten tomorrow would be good, and also that "this bridge's getting a bit brittle, these days, just so you know..."

 

"Oop, sorry." Renko walked over to the land and paused. "... You know, actually. Nat."

 

"Yes."

 

Renko brought a tiny ball out of the belt. "How about we try something out real quick? Not a full battle, just a li'l experiment."

 

Nat hesitantly drew her rods and stepped forward. "What sort of 'experiment' are we talking about?"

 

Renko nonchalantly threw the ball on the ground. With a flash, the scan within had built itself up; perfectly still with only its frills and pigtails moving from the wind, a makeshift scythe slung over its shoulder.

 

Diana backed away a little, probably trying not to look it in the eye. Or anywhere near the face, for that matter; for some reason, that was always the part of scans that looked the worst.

 

Natalie just swooped straight in, assumed a slash would come her way and jumped out of the way, and stabbed. As expected, the stab went straight through the unflinching scan -

 

Wait, what? They were supposed to show some sort of reaction, make some sort of noise to signal that something was wrong. But Natalie pulled the rod out and it still was in its default state, waiting for orders.

 

Renko chuckled to herself, threw the ball again to retrieve the scan, then looked at the ball intently. "Mhm, Coco didn't lose any health at all now, either! Isn't that great?"

 

"So it's basically invincible?"

 

"Boy, I wish! Spellcards work fine on it, but fighting Brawly, oh man. Thanks for proving it wasn't just that his team had way too weak punches." She then stowed the ball away into her fanny pack bag.

 

Natalie frowned. "Huh? Aren't we fighting?"

 

"Do you really have to ask? When you can't even hit it, Siri's a Fire-type, and the new guy's... Y'know."

 

"Uh, by the way," Diana said, "what is it? I'd guess a Sakuya, but that scythe..."

 

"Komachi. I was warned about these." Natalie reluctantly discarded her weaponry. "I really need some strategy for these cases..."

 

Siri thought for a moment. "I thought they didn't care for leaving Java?"

 

"Nah, they didn't. But y'know what?" Renko finally put her stuff away, too, grinning that wide Birch grin. "I'll explain how I got hold of that scan, but it's kinda boring, so how about we get something to eat, first? I'm starving."

 

If Siri was closer she'd elbow Renko lightly. "More like _you_ get something to eat..."

 

-=-

 

Siri had always thought Petalburg was one of those cities that sneaked up on its visitors. If you came from the east, you had a sign welcoming you to town and a few unremarkable houses before you suddenly stooped into the Main Street.

 

But today, she realised that this wasn't quite the case if you came from the west instead. You had the sign welcoming you to the “old stronghold” of south-western Hoenn, and there was a hedge right behind it, wild trees practically hovering above the edge of the lot.

 

Of course, she had noticed the hedge last time she passed through on her way to Rustboro... But since they had been so busy getting through, she didn't really stop to look at the house behind it. So she took flight, hovering a few feet above ground, and – Well, she could definitely see why the rest would stop to look at it once they reached an opening in the hedge.

 

To start with, the owners of the lot – no, if they could afford something of this size, there had to be several – the owners had done a good job taking care of the garden. Maybe it wasn't filled with particularly exotic plants, but it was filled with flowers recognisable by their strong colours. They hadn't been squared away like in most gardens at home, in Oldale; you had two seas of flowers glowing white, pink, blue, anything inbetween, waving a little in the wind. Those seas had been divided by a paved road that led all the way to a massive, two-storey house. The traditional clay tiles on the roof and orange walls shone with warmth in the evening sun...

 

And then Siri saw something through a window on the second floor that gave her pause. A small, pale, almost ghostly figure was looking out through it. She could swear it looked back at her for a few seconds, but then it turned away and ducked out of view. The window was open, and she could just barely hear a chair scraping against the floor.

 

Renko walked ahead of them, hands held behind her back. “... And Dad says our house is too big.”

 

“Oh?” Siri stopped flying for now and walked beside her. “First I've heard of it.”

 

“Yeah, he didn't say that 'til I became a Trainer.”

 

“Ah!” It sounded familiar, enough so that Siri couldn't help but giggle. She was just about to talk about how her mother had been when she left home for the first time when Diana interrupted them:

 

“Who lives here? Natalie, do you happen to know?”

 

“I'm not sure... But Kogan told me that the son visited our Gym recently.” She didn't seem to notice Diana's confusion over a new name being dropped so casually. “I had always thought he was a bit of a shut-in, so that came as a surprise.”

 

Ah, so that figure was likely the son... But wait, that just raised further questions! Siri folded her arms. “What was he trying to do at a closed Gym?”

 

“Kogan's still on secretary duty. And the boy was apparently only there to ask for help with... something about a scan, it was a bit unclear.” Natalie shrugged. “You don't need a Leader for those things.”

 

They turned to the right and soon arrived at a building with the Center's round emblem above its glass doors. The Center had a sign with a map of the town on it; Renko stopped and pointed at its upper right, somewhere near the lake. “I was thinking we'd meet up here once I fetch 'Liz. Sound good?”

 

Yes, that sounded good. With that, Renko went up to her room on the second floor, and Siri's group went to ask for a room downstairs. Before long, they got their pair of keys – actually, that was kind of surprising, they had used cards at the one in Rustboro – and could drop their bags off by the door.

 

Diana lingered by the door afterwards. When asked about it, she just shook her head, frowning.

 

“... It just feels weird that I'm not gonna sleep in my own bed tonight.”

 

“You'll get used to it, probably.” At least Siri hoped so. “Let's just get going.”

 

-=-

 

Needless to say, Renko hadn't chosen the fanciest place in town. Above the counter by the door, a lot of screens were shining all-too-brightly, showing off the things you could order here and their prices. Siri's guess was that they wanted to capitalise on their location: sure, the food looked decent at best and they hadn't spent a lot on decorating the room, but wasn't the lake right outside the window beautiful? Renko definitely thought so, having seated herself right next to it, along with nearly every customer. Some other people grumbled about the girl with a fancy hat taking one of the larger tables for herself, though that stopped once the team had joined them.

 

Also needless to say, Renko was halfway through a sandwich by the time Siri and the others arrived. Eliza was staring at the floor as if they just had a long (or well, by her standards) argument about whether that was impolite or not, and had lost.

 

… Come to think of it, Eliza really looked like she didn't belong in this kind of place. Granted, she couldn't do anything about the red-and-white waistcoat and the dress beneath it, that was just inherited by her parents, but something about how she had combed her black hair to the sides and let it flow past the shoulders was way more formal than it had to be.

 

Renko waved at them to take a seat, then swallowed and cleared her throat before she said: “So, yeah. Here we are. Diana, meet 'Liz. Eliza, meet Diana.”

 

Eliza's response was an automatic “Nice to meet you.” She just stared at Diana with her icy grey eyes, bracing for some question or other.

 

Diana straightened her back, smiling politely. “Same!”

 

The ensuing staring contest lasted for ten seconds. Wow. Siri had to break the tension somehow. “I'm still surprised you decided to go travelling, Eliza.”

 

“Well... It was the Professor's decision.” She ignored Renko pointing out that he had just _suggested_ it. “I have to pay back for his hospitality somehow, and...” She glanced at Diana again and shrunk together in her seat. “... Well.”

 

The second reason hung in the air. Knowing Birch, he must have been saying something like: “I appreciate your help and all, but it can't be healthy staying here all the time. Maybe your problem could be understood more easily if you took it out into the field?”

 

Diana leaned forward on the table. “So, uh... The Prof took care of you? What's he actually like?”

 

Renko waved an arm around. “I'd say he's, y'know. Like most dads.”

 

“Well, I don't know what most dads are like.”

 

Even though Diana said that very casually, Renko's eyes widened. “Dude! Sorry, didn't mean to- oh... Right. Bonéka. Two mums?”

 

Diana nodded.

 

Siri rolled her eyes. “You really need to remember most of our families look like mine...”

 

“Oh, shut it!” Renko started fidgeting with her hat to distract from the blushing. “Anyway, uh. Guess if you're part of the team, you're gonna have to meet up with my dad sometime for research. Speaking of, what kinda ability do you have, anyway? I don't see a lot of fairies like you at the lab, so...?”

 

“No, we don't have any.” Diana shrugged, looked about to lean back in her seat – realised she would just tip backwards if she did, and bounced forwards. “That's nothing to worry about, though. It's better than if I had one and didn't know what to do with it, honestly. But then again... Hmm, what do you all think?”

 

“I use mine almost daily, so no comment,” Natalie said.

 

“I haven't in a very long time, but...” Siri hummed as she considered how to phrase it. “... I guess, if I wasn't able to turn invisible at all, things might have turned out pretty differently.”

 

“Wow, that's what you do? You gotta show us sometime!”

 

Renko pulled a grin. “Don't bother. It's not much to look at-”

 

“Please! Bad puns aside, I can only do it in direct sunlight, so... Yes. Very circumstantial.”

 

Diana's shoulders slumped, but she quickly recovered from the disappointment and looked straight ahead. “And Eliza? What do you...?”

 

“... I'd appreciate if we talked about something else.” Eliza groaned quietly in that 'I've heard that question a billion times before'-fashion. “... The lake looks nice tonight.”

 

Renko frowned with worry. A rare sight. Then she suddenly raised a finger: “Yeah, right! Didn't I say something about my Komachi? Yeah, she's actually based on a penpal I have over in Java...”

 

Despite their best efforts, the relaxed atmosphere that evening could never fully recover after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context for the song title: Renko's name literally means lotus child. And she was adopted by a man with a tree for a name.
> 
> It's tough when only one person in the group is capable of digesting food... Especially when her teammate also is a rather grumpy person.
> 
> Yes, Diana Bullet Seeded Renko's Komachi a lot in game. But writing it out like this worked as a setup for stop spoiling your own stuff.
> 
> Here's another thing that bothered me about World Link: Renko's starter? Spammed Imprison all the freaking time. The only time it actually did any damage was the first rival battle, wherein she and Siri had quite the tacklefest...
> 
> Briney's sprite may be the typical, hunched-over old man sprite, but you know what? I like to think that maybe his sight has worn down a little, and his hands aren't quite as flexible as before... but he's still surprisingly fast at walking for his age. As for him and Peeko, I'll leave that for the miniupdate. ~~spoiler: I didn't do much in the mini-update at all~~


	11. Chapter 2, Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (just a quick in-between chapter, nbd.)

([Currently playing: **Fuukou Meibi** from the official Hisouten soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqqtHJdfGM)... I had no ideas how to cover it this time around, sorry;;)

 

"Y'all again?"

 

"Nice to see you, too..." Siri replied.

 

Ah, well. No matter how you got across the pond, there would be problems; getting the evil eye from a mildly paranoid engineer the whole time was much less of a hassle than having to don water-resistant suits and paddling your way through.

 

"Let's see - you three, and you..." Briney pointed at Windsor, who pouted in approval. "And that Renko wasn't actually supposed to come aboard, was she!"

 

"Thank god."

 

... No, Siri didn't just imagine that remark, right?

 

Briney clapped his hands together and got up on the drawbridge. "That's it, then! Peeko, come with me!" Once the passengers were on board, they both headed for the anchor.

 

Gah, everything felt wobbly already. Siri steadied herself with the railing, wondered if she should enter the boat too, just in case the waves were particularly high today. Felt a little jealous over Natalie and Windsor going straight for the boat's front without having to worry about any of that.

 

Screw it. She went into the captain's room and slid down the wall, Diana following suit.

 

"... What do you mean, 'thank god'?"

 

"Oh, you know. Our fight."

 

Christ almighty. Siri buried her face in one hand. "Look. It's pretty obvious what you're thinking. You don't like scans, I wouldn't want one made of me, either, but-"

 

"That's not it! Imean, that'salittlecreepybut-"

 

"Then what?"

 

"I'm talking about the dinner. That friend of hers. I'm not sure if I could last an entire boat trip with someone like that..."

 

The boat started shaking, and Briney and Peeko swiftly returned to the helm.

 

... Perfect timing. Siri didn't even know whether to think that sarcastically or not. Mostly because she couldn't think of a full rebuttal that didn't involve delving too much into someone else's personal problems.

 

Diana stood up and stretched, almost fell over when the boat finally came into motion. "What do you say we join them in the front!" She started reaching into her bag. "I brought a towel just in case?"

 

"Mmn, maybe when we're arriving."

 

"Fine!"

 

Fortunately, Briney and Peeko seemed to get the message too, and left Siri alone for the time being.

 

"Personal problems." Was it still personal if it was a problem shared by everyone of the same kind? ... Then again, Eliza really had better ways of going about that than clamming up like that whenever the issue could reasonably be brought up. Siri only had a vague idea of what it was like for her because she had decided to look up what other Eiki wrote about their problems.

 

And if she wasn't going to talk much at all with anyone, why was she out and about now? Definitely not to battle - Siri had tried making contact a few times over the years by asking for a spar, and nothing came out of it. Did she just latch onto Renko so much that when Renko became a Trainer...?

 

... Nothing good was coming out of speculating endlessly. Better to just ask them in person sometime. Siri decided to drop the issue for now and look out the door window the rest of the journey, just listening to the engines whirring and Briney repeatedly asking Peeko to be a dear and check this or that for him.

Until she got sick of hearing it after the umpteenth time and took that towel offer up.

 

 

 

Even when they did arrive at yet another bridge that didn't like being stepped on, Dewford seemed awfully far away. Enough that you barely had to turn your head to see the whole thing, unless you wanted to watch the half dozen townsfolk bathing at the beach nearby. "What, this is it?"

 

"Aye..." Briney said, sighing. "They used to have a silkwear shop right there," he said, pointing at various spots in the distance, "an inn for explorers, appraisals... Those vacation houses over there had queues longer than this bridge! But it's just the Center and Gym, now..."

 

"An' when I moved away they actually had a decent port 'round here." Even Peeko looked all nostalgic, now. "... But what're y'all waiting for?"

 

"I concur." Natalie pondered for a moment. "Do we still want to unpack first and then visit the Gym?"

 

Siri and Diana just nodded.

 

Windsor hastily scribbled something that probably said "the other way around for me" and swiftly left.

 

=-=

 

There was a tiny sticker note on the Gym's front door saying nothing but "BRB ~ Brawly".

 

' _What do you mean, 'BRB'?!_ ' Windsor almost reached it before the doors slid open on their own, fumbled for it and tore the taped part off before running up to the closest person and holding it there.

 

The secretary just looked amused. "Ma'am, would you put that back? Whatever he and the old Champ are up to-"

 

No no no, that wouldn't do. The Devon people explicitly said they would both be here and - Windsor slammed it onto the desk and brought the notepad out, inadvertedly clenched her fist so hard part of the edge crumpled around it. ""Whered they go then?"

 

The secretary shrugged. "The beach? There's not much else around here, y'know. Apart from the old mine, but, y'know, the accident and all... See this pamphlet here?"

 

Windsor squinted, mouthed 'thanks?' and started flipping through it.

 

' _... You know what? Let's go there instead._ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The good thing with writing in the POV of someone who can't boats is not having to look the terms up. lol
> 
> My planning for this part went from "let's describe the beginning and end of the boat trip!" to "never mind, I'll just have them talk about similar stuff in the evening" to "never mind that let's go with the first one!", not even kidding. Why am I like this.
> 
> I'm not sure how it came to be that Diana and Eliza were so... rival-like, I guess? My initial plan was that Siri wouldn't be able to stand 'Liz after all these years. But the characters evolved, and now Siri is too patient with people to dislike them entirely, even if she can get a bit snappy with those she likes, as we've seen before and will see again.


	12. Chapter 2, Part 4

([Currently playing: **Dewford's Mines, Abandoned**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/156986126922/) \- a personal favourite, I should add)

 

"... Hey, this might be it!"

"'Might'. So you admit we're lost."

"Nooo, I just thought this path was gonna take longer than it did."

Steven just smirked, refraining from pushing the issue further - mostly because he already was out of breath as is. How? Brawly may have wandered around in here aimlessly as part of his training before, but caves were still Steven's domain. He did not expect whatever "amazing" find Brawly was guiding him to be this hard to reach. This better be worth it.

Brawly went through that crack in the wall, then stuck his head out of the murky darkness. "Yeah, this is the shortcut. Fetch the torch?"

Steven did so, then somehow fit through himself. "About time..."

"Look, man, I'm not the one who stopped at every rock in the wall to pull out their- lupé, is that what you call'em?"

"'Lupe'." And in his defense, he was making use of the time spent getting lost.

"'aight." Brawly shoved the torch into the ground and lit it up. He took a few steps back and waited for the light to grow stronger - it did so very slowly, a bit like when ebb turned to tide. That was probably how he would describe it, anyway. Steven spent the time swinging his flashlight to see the rest of the dome-shaped room - well, dome-shaped if not for the long corridor behind them. Wasn't there already a bit of light at the end of the corridor, by any chance? Just how far had they gotten into the cave?

When Steven turned back to the torch, he just stood for a while, awestruck. the wall behind it was almost entirely taking up by a massive panting, depicting figures of ancient folklore. The one on top was mostly recreated in dark outlines; the right one had some ochre lines drawn across it, as well; but the lines of the third was there mostly as an afterthought, painted over with a yellow pigment that mostly had melted into the cave wall afterwards. There were still traces of waves were beneath them, of mountains to the side, to clouds above.

Steven swallowed. "... Do you realise what this means?"

"Depends on the 'means'. I'm gonna have to tell people this thing's been around for ages, but..." Brawly's face scrunched up a little, and he tugged at the Escape rope slug over his shoulder. "I also gotta tell them where exactly I found it, and what it's a drawing _of_ , right. First part's real easy: 'just follow the rope there!' But the second..."

"You don't know what it depicts."

"..."

Steven sighed. Time and time again he had reminded Brawly that if he wanted to get to know Hoenn, he would have to visit Sootopolis, get acquainted with their old myths and their own murals depicting the same things in much greater detail... Or at least look at some photos of them if he didn't have the opportunity.

But still... Even if there were similar drawings elsewhere, being the second living person to get to see one this close before others came around to polish and analyse every inch of it... Insanely flattering. Even he couldn't imagine complaining now, and so he didn't: he just pointed at the figures on the wall, gave their names, what people thought they were capable of, how important Rayquaza's intervention supposedly was. He even caught himself calling it divine.

"... Sounds amazing, but it just doesn't hold up, does it..." Brawly shook his head and tied the Escape rope to a nearby stalagmite.

They left the room quietly; only later could Steven could think of a retort. "It may sound rather over-the-top, yes - but who's to say it wasn't based on something that actually happened? The legends about migrating elemental birds in Kanto were eventually proven true, after all."

"Yeah, but some no-name Trainers managed to beat them. And if some casuals can do it, then I gotta do it! Kyogre's nothing to worry about."

Steven couldn't help but chuckle at that - somehow, it was far too easy imagining Brawly on his surfboard, fighting some pretty intense waves while giving orders for his Hariyama. ... Then again, it was also far too easy imagining him diving under the surface and never coming back up. He frowned at the thought. "You'd also have to consider that you're probably fighting Groudon at the same time."

"Collateral damage by Kyogre is a thing!"

"Collateral damage by Groudon, too. Of the sort that would hit your Pokémon much harder."

"There are ways around that, like- what's this, now?" Brawly stopped by a ledge Steven hadn't noticed earlier.

Steven looked over the edge, finding two Bonéka (though he couldn't really tell of what kinds from this distance), both with their arms raised. Was one of them holding a slip of paper?

Fortunately, while they didn't catch the rope, they could fasten it somewhere. Just a few minutes later, Steven and Brawly were on ground level again.

Brawly's eyes widened when he saw what they were carrying, and he smiled down at them. "Woah, you went all the way out here with fanmail? That's pretty damn impressive, actually!"

The redhaired one just squinted and held her arm out toward Brawly.

"No," the blonde one said, " _that_ guy's Steven. And for the record, I doubt it's fanmail..."

"Then what is it? Let me see." Steven considered reading the front cover out loud, but changed his mind when he saw what it was:

"To my son (who must have forgotten his phone at home because he hasn't answered any of my calls - for shame!)"

... Damn it, dad... Steven cleared his throat and looked down at the Bonéka again. "Thank you for going through all that trouble anyway. I don't think I have any reward on hand right now, but if we meet again at some point... Will you stay in Dewford for long?"

The redhead started flipping through pages in a notebook. The blonde answered: "Don't know about her, but I'm basically in Dewford to fight Brawly. Speaking of, when are you available?"

Brawly put his hands on his hips. "You haven't actually been to my gym yet, huh? Says right in the hallway how the Gym in it is different from any other!"

"You say, when you borrowed the system from those in Kanto..."

"Don't mind'im. So here's how it works: the main gym is open all day, right? People need to work out, 'n all that. But the labyrinth Gym within the gym, that's only open when I'm in and fully prepared. Doesn't matter if I recognise 'em or not - any and all who can make it through the pitch darkness gets to fight me!"

The blonde conjured a flame from nowhere. "Sounds fine to me."

Brawly blinked a few times, trying far too hard to look stumped.

==-==

Steven had forgotten how quiet Dewford was at night. When he had announced he would go out to the front porch to think (i.e. read that letter), he expected at least some activity - but no. It was only nine in the evening, but the streets were already pretty much dead.

Had they already forgotten about him in the area? ... No, that couldn't be it. Dewford was the sort of place where local events were talked about for years and years on end, despite their fashions changing so quickly. If anything-

No, what was he complaining about? It meant that if someone wanted to read over his shoulder, they were probably asleep by now. He finally opened that embarrassing envelope up and read the letter, fully confident nobody would have to see him inevitably cringe at some of the things written in it.

" _Steven,_

 

normally I would have waited until you could answer a call... But there are some news I thought you might want to hear ASAP. Please refrain from reading it while your nosy friend is in the room... I would say, if it wasn't a matter I thought concerned him too. In fact, as soon as I'm done writing this I should make copies for the other League people!

 

 

I heard a rumour that Saboten are working on something new. Since we paid for the creation of Tensoku last time, you'd think they would let us know even if they didn't want help again, yes? But it was just a rumour on the level of 'this person heard it from this person who could have sworn somebody heard something about it at some café in Rustboro'. Anyway, it's like when you hear about promising Trainers, I suppose - I just had to contact them and see if it was true.

 

 

Yes. Yes, it was. But technically I'm not allowed to speak a word about it. (Technically I still haven't!) It's ridiculous, really. "We don't tell people about this project because that way, they will talk 100% naturally in the recording, and thus give better results. The subjects carrying the orb around have also agreed to going incognito for this reason." So incognito that even I don't know who those subjects are, can you imagine that!

 

 

Anyways. They're calling it Hatsune (I'm sure thanks to those cartoons you like to watch you'd know more about what that means than I do!); it's supposed to translate things and basically talk for you. You know what this means. Whenever that thing starts getting sold, people won't have to worry about the language barrier as much. More Javans in Hoenn, more Hoennese wanting to go to Java... both probably looking to defeat the League and its current Champions.

 

 

 _I know you're retired from the position, but maybe it's time you pull your old team together, is what I'm trying to say. Maybe you need to polish that old Tensoku, too. Show people who they're dealing with!_ "

... As if he wasn't trying to.

He had already judged by earlier news - especially all the criticisms toward the new Champion - that more people were getting involved in the Bonéka League now than when he was at the top. That interest rates in people who wanted to go to Java someday were rising, too. And if they wanted that, well... At some point, he'd be the only thing standing between them and that goal.

Of course he had to get prepared somehow - but it wasn't easy to pull your old team back together when several of them were fully retired with families. Or simply not around anymore.

At this point, he had only gotten as far as looking for replacements of spellcards that had brought him where he was. ... Come to think of it, weren't the ones he already had gotten a hold of more than enough?

It didn't take him long to make his mind up. He checked if Dad had added any P.Ss to his letter. Yes. " _P.S. And keep an eye out for people who seem like they might be the 'subjects' while you're at it. I'm curious now!" ' _I could manage that._ ' " P.S.S. And you really should stop by home sometime!!_"

He might as well. Soon. But for now, he just went back inside, to the room he got to borrow for the night, and started searching for something applicable.

"... Brawly, if you haven't found any new rewards, how about you gift them this?"

"Don't say that like we're gonna lose again this soon!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (These Author's Notes are old, but they're still true.)
> 
> Aaaah I've been looking forward to writing this part so much. Mostly because I'm really proud of the music in this part - and it's also one of the oldest things for DWL that I still can stand to listen to!
> 
> While I have to agree he's pretty flat in canon, Brawly is just such a fun character to expand!! I can't even explain why. As a result, I may or may not have inflated his role in the 'locke, just a little bit... But hey, no more than can be foreshadowed through this part and the next. (... Hold on, maybe I started liking him so much as a result of expanding him? I can't even tell anymore)
> 
> And yes, the lupé thing was entirely spur of the moment due to the whole "subtle differences in Kantonian/Hoennese dialects"-thing. if it's stupid I'm sorry.
> 
>  
> 
> And of course Steven ends up talking and thinking a bit more casually than in the games... Hey, even if he's technically Brawly's boss, they're friends rather than just a work relationship. I like thinking that Brawly sees Steven as his best buddy in Hoenn while to Steven Brawly's just a friend. No calling his dad Gramps, though - I don't know why, I just really don't want anyone but Gary to say it :v:
> 
> And I refuse to believe Mr. Joseph Stone wouldn't write letters like that :V:
> 
> As for Steven's bit toward the end... Yeah. With the way I have handled TMs/spellcards so far, there was no way I could just have him hand one over and be all nonchalant about it. There's also the fact that [postgame spoilers].
> 
> "Didn't you catch anything in the cave?" "Why did Siri recognise Steven when Windsor didn't?" The answers will come in time. All I'll say for now is this: just like how Windsor was caught before the Roxanne fight but introduced afterwards, the new catch did surprisingly little in the Brawly fight, so their contribution has been applied to other people and their introduction postponed for the sake of pacing. I'll try not to do that too often, sorry;;


	13. Chapter 2, Part 5: And I want to scream

Dewford did not have a busy Center by any stretch of the imagination. In the early morning, it had an almost ethereal feeling - the salty air didn't get through the doors, so it was just you and a deafening silence until the poor sap stuck with the morning shift yawned.  
  
Or unless you decided to improvise an application to join a team, just because you couldn't tell them what you were like with your voice. Windsor thought her pen was unusually loud as she scribbled the following:  
  


Let's cut to the chase, I want to join a team for a while and you don't have a ~~proper~~ full one yet  
  
**Hull** : Bug (aka just try punching me)  
**Ability** : Pheromones - won't goad other bugs into fights unless we really need the help, though  
**Why me?** : no need for repels (see Ability), experience with guiding/fighting for people  
**Payment** : I don't know, how much do you have to pay me with? Shelter?  
  
_'The question's just what to put down when they start asking why I'm... I mean, best case scenario they'll believe me if I write some bull like-_ '  
  
"Wow, you're early today!" "That applies for us too, you know."  
  
Windsor forgot she had the pen in her hand for a second and almost flung it into the air while waving back, didn't make any effort to hide that she was thinking 'Why couldn't you show up five minutes later?'  
  
"Nat's evolved tonight, though, that's why." Siri shook her head, chuckling. "I _said_ she ought to kick back and relax when the two of us would handle the Gym, and she said she would, and now this... And when she's the youngest of us, too..."  
  
So she had to spend a night in quarantine just to grow a head taller. Yeah, that sucked. Good of them to be there as soon as possible afterwards.  
  
The fairies sat themselves down on the other end of the couch, and Diana turned the TV on. The news started playing, albeit muted - and even when Siri was done raising the volume it was way too low. Even if the signal was sent all the way from Rustboro, that shouldn't be the problem behind it.  
  
Windsor started waving her arm. "G-imm-" - choking. Christ, she needed to forget to do that all the time, people didn't need to see the stitches or hear that. If the others were creeped out, she couldn't tell on account of covering her face with her arm for too long - but when she was done, they had gotten the hint and thrown the remote next to her. 'Thanks,' she mouthed.  
  
" And in local news, archeologists are now arriving in waves due to 'Brawly's' discovery in the Dewford cave at the beginning of the week. Among them we have someone familiar to long-time viewers for digging around north of the island in search for a mythological beast. In other words, you should be able to explain what this painting is all about, right, Andres?"  
  
"Now, now, the titan **s** are very real - I can assure you there is proof, somewhere! But yes, first about this cave painting..."  
  
At that point Windsor tried to tune him out entirely, going back to what she was preparing before the others showed up. Emphasis on 'tried to'.  
  
"... So, Andres - in response to this find, people are debating whether people should be allowed to visit and investigate the old mines again, too..."  
  
"Skipping straight to the hard questions, are we! Now, it may be tempting to see whether there are other hints of people in ancient times traversing that far into the cavern... But, again, only Regice knows how stable the cavern is after the earthquake - let alone after those hooligans started digging around in the aftermath-"  
  
"What do you mean, 'hooligans'?" Diana exclaimed. "They were heroes!"  
  
Oh. Finally somebody agreed! Windsor would ask for a high five if it didn't mean scooting across the whole couch.  
  
Siri lowered the volume again and asked: "right, who are they talking about? This is the first I've heard about 'digging around'."  
  
Windsor started writing a reply, but Diana spoke up first. "I read about the accident while you two went on that trip. Sure, maybe not the best idea but I wanted to _know_ what was the worst that could happen, alright? I got this pamphlet up in the room all about it, something about it seemed off, started looking up other sources... It's just nasty. So, the mine had a few floors, spread out. There was an earthquake. Since most were in the top floors, those that weren't crushed got dug out after a week or so. ... Yeah, and that's not even the worst part!" Diana sat up straight, didn't seem to notice the nervous looks she was getting from the Center clerk nearby. "Like I said, _most_ were near the top - and that's all the rescuers bothered to check. The ones on the lower levels - even when their relatives and friends begged for at least an attempt to excavate them, they- they were left to die just because suddenly 'our excavation methods aren't safe enough', **apparently**!"  
  
They were asked to either pipe down or leave the hall.  
  
Windsor tore a page out and handed it over to Siri, who read it looking rather numbed. " So yeah, to absolutely nobody's surprise some people stole some equipment, or a Pokémon, dont remember, broke into the barricaded zone and started digging by themselves to save those people. Nobody knows who they are and where they went but at least nobody's found their remains so that's probably a good sign"  
  
"Wait, they stole that?" Diana blinked. "I thought they had been developing their own - I'll just check that later again - the point is, calling them hooligans is just wrong!"  
  
Oh yes. As much as Windsor hated the stealing part of that story, they had a pretty solid motive. And if only Windsor could still talk, she would have given a very good example of the kind of person who deserved to be called a hooligan - but then again, if she could talk, she wouldn't have a reason to look for that coward and kick his ass... The point was, those guys were not it.  
  
  
Without a word, Siri brought her attention back to the TV, making the discussion quickly fizzle out.  
  
  
... Screw it. Windsor flipped over to her page with her self-advertisement and hastily added "this is why Im here right now btw" at the top before handing it over.  
  
Judging by their reaction, the problem was that _all_ current teammembers had to consent to that - and so, they went back to waiting.  
  
  
  
=-=  
  
  
... Had she slept at all?  
  
Jesus. Natalie tried getting out of the bed they provided, but her head felt like lead. Of all things, it had to be the head, when that was supposed to be the only part that didn't change... Or maybe that was why?  
  
Wiggling her toes, then legs, worked as usual. She had, as usual, fallen asleep on her stomach; pulling her arms out from beneath the pillow to the pocket on the back of her shoulders worked as-  
  
Hm? Didn't something feel different? She pulled her spellcard out, just to check. It hadn't been used for anything but the shield, but - oh. Oh dear, it _looked_ quite different, too.  
  
She stumbled out of the quarantine room, dazed by the light, confirmed to staff that everything was as it should be but waited with getting out into the main hall until the headache was tolerable.  
  
It was almost an hour until she finally came out.  
  
"Oh, there you are! Congrats!!"  
  
"Thanks...?" Natalie probably looked like a Stantler caught in the headlights. In her defense, for good reason. Not only were they waiting for her, but Diana had something wrapped around her arms. She walked over and stood in front of them by the sofa; "You even bought a gift?"  
  
"Of course we did!" Diana handed the scarf over. "Who wouldn't?"  
  
Natalie weighed it in her hands. How nice, it wasn't too flashy and felt smooth; she thanked them again and wrapped it around her shoulders. "My Gym, for starters. Birthdays were celebrated though... Ah, remind me to report to Kogan that this happened."  
  
"That's some backwards logic," Siri said. "Evolution's once in a lifetime! Or twice, but still - it's still a way bigger thing than how old you are!"  
  
"Oh, by the way!" Diana leaned forward and looked to the side. "Winni- Windsor here's wondering... Well, basically, can she join us for a while?"  
  
Ah. Natalie hadn't even noticed that she was there. And what, they already had nicknames for each other?  
  
Windsor brought that notebook out again; seemed like she had written an improvised CV on it recently, as well as some sort of reasoning for why she would be here. Natalie skipped that last part completely.  
  
... Hm. On one hand, communicating like this was going to be very hard. On the other, if she went out of her way to write a CV without strictly having to, this was supposed to be purely professional anyway...  
  
"How about this. We're set to challenge Brawly in a few days. If you do well then, you may come along."  
  
Windsor bobbed her head up and down a few times.  


  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The odd thing is that while I couldn't imagine getting along with someone like Windsor in real life... _She's just too dang fun to write_. I promise not to make her steal the spotlight too much.
> 
> Originally I was going to have the labyrinth segment in this chapter and leave the actual battle against Brawly for next week, but this update's thick enough as is, I think. Not word count-wise but paragraph- and time cut-wise. What this means is that the music has to get a bit extended, but eh.
> 
> And oh shit, Diana was pissed for a second there! I actually didn't see this coming until I wrote it; it was originally going to be a calmer discussion over a newspaper (although Windsor would still be fuming), and then it somehow evolved into this. No pun intended.
> 
> In World Link, most Bonéka have three evolutionary stages (usually called Chibi-, Normal- and EX-stages). I went with the first evolution mainly making you grow taller, while EX evolutions would make you grow stronger instead. Nobody has seen an evolution happen because the Bonéka in question has to be by themself - and due to that, most Bonéka try to evolve during the night. As a result, there are rooms in the Center that tend to be put aside for those trying to evolve. (Pokémon still evolve instantaneously, though)
> 
> Both of Nazrin's evolutions happen rather early in comparison to the rest of the team, which is why Natalie was the only evolved one of the team. (and yes, despite Siri claiming otherwise, I made sure Nat was on the same level as everyone else.) Fun fact: this is why I gave Nat the backstory of belonging to a Gym - otherwise it would make no sense that the one who fought the least real battles on screen would evolve so much sooner. Her character arc grew from there.


	14. Chapter 2, Part 6: V.S. Dewford Gym

([Currently playing: **Decisive Brawl**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/158466852237/))

 

This wasn't working.  
  
  
The lights in the Gym had stayed on for just a moment after Siri and the others had entered it; then,  
  
bam.  
  
The walls, those weird little statues by the door, the door itself - all gone. The Gym couldn't have any windows letting in light from outside, either; just vents loudly pushing in fresh air from the gym outside above them. A random thought struck Siri when she blindly groped for the closest surface - the combat Gym within the work out gym. The Gym gym. They couldn't have thought of any better names for this?!  
  
"Uh, Siri?" Diana asked. "You alright?"  
  
"I wasn't prepared for the void!"  
  
"I'd say this darkness is closer to power outage levels."  
  
"Same thing!"

... Fortunately, it wasn't quite on void levels once she could pull herself together and summon that will-o-wisp. Now, if she could just bring that whitish light over to that wall she could've sworn was in front of them earlier...  
  
What the hell. _The light actually disappeared into the void._ After just a few metres, too.  
  
As Siri pulled it back out and directed it above her head, a whole choir of voices called out for them - not quite in unison, speaking many variations of the same things. " W **What do you** t **think you're doing** , huh? **This is the Dewford Gym** you numpties \- **it's all about facing your primal fears head-on! Now, try moving ahead, preferrably without putting the whole place in danger, will you?** "  
  
Oh, that's it. "I can keep my fires under control, _thank you very much!_ " Siri eased forward, step by step.  
  
Playful hissing from the right - a figure jumped out, with teeth and arms and maybe claws and -  
  
Windsor swooped forward, kicking the figure straight in the side with a mighty **whack!**. It smacked straight into a wall. Ooh dear, that didn't sound good. That was when Siri realised that maybe it was a better idea to have Windsor on your side than otherwise.  
  
"... OK, fine, we'll brighten the surroundings a little but _jeezus!_ " The Rumia held her promise and could soon be seen slowly sinking off the wall. "Never thought 'bout holding back?!"  
  
"L-ook-" Windsor went quiet again, pointing and shaking her finger.  
  
"Y-yeah, look, you're the one who was t-trying to ambush us!"  
  
"Diana, would you let go? ... More importantly, why a Rumia of all things in a Fighting-type Gym?"  
  
"If they ain't making a Dark Gym, where else were we gonna go? Besides, this makes a great Gym gimmick."  
  
"'Great' and 'great'..." Siri guided her torch closer to the wall and almost squashed herself against it. Finally, a good reference point. So, if there was a wall here, and there was another one to her current front, which was the exit, they would have to turn to the...  
  
==-==  
  
Fortunately, the Rumia crowd weren't shrouding the arena - more of a boxing ring, really - at the end of the labyrinth. Unfortunately, the stage lights were only on at about half the strength they should have, and very selective about where to illuminate the room anyway. There was no way to shake the feeling that someone else was watching them.  
  
Brawly himself was already in the ring, leaning casually onto the ropes, his face lighting up considerably once he could hear them approaching. "Oh, finally! I thought I was gonna have to miss some great waves later!"  
  
The Bonéka with horns sitting with their legs over the corner of the ring just groaned. "If you wanted quick matches why this whole labyrinth?"  
  
The Sakuya on the ground beneath Brawly was too busy stretching to say anything.  
  
Diana looked around for any narrators or audience, but found none. "So it's not like in Rustboro, huh..."  
  
"Part of the Mainland charm, bud! Whenever the studio folks decide to comment on our battle today, it's not interfering with us. This part's just the boring old 'three-versus-four'-part."  
  
"Question." Natalie raised her hand. "What version will our colleagues see afterwards?"  
  
"I don't really think that's gonna make much of a difference..." Diana remarked.  
  
"It's not that deep, yeah... But that's beside the point here!" Brawly finally bounced off the rope and stood straight - surprisingly shorter than Siri remembered - before pulling some odd pose with one arm much higher than the other. "We came here to surf, to grow strong among the waves and the caves! There's no way we're losing, huh, Sasa!"  
  
The Sakuya somersaulted over the ropes into the arena for no good reason. Still on one knee, she grabbed a knife with a very thin blade from a loop around the leg; she huffed onto the blade, coating it in several layers of ice.  
  
Well, if it wasn't melting already, it would soon. So it was unanimoniously decided that Siri would speed the process up.  
  
"Aaand... Go! Start off with a Private Square or two!"  
  
What, freezing her in time? Not on her watch. Siri went for a more intense burst of fire - but after so long in dim lights, it blinded her.  
  
Fortunately, 'Sasa' was also thrown off guard, shielding herself rather than moving forward. But then she grabbed the pocketwatch dangling around her neck and-  
  
suddenly Siri's arms were pushed back, some time after the actual impact, with Sasa not too far away. After balancing herself, Siri noticed a gash along her sleeve, a tiny mark on the 'clay' beneath. Some ice had gotten stuck on it and melted into the cloth. How many others..?  
  
"Now follow that up with a Metal Claw!"  
  
As Sasa closed in, Siri kept taking small steps to the side - then, when another slash came, bam. Shield. There was a very satisfying "shh..." as the knife started melting - whatever damage that did to herself, it wasn't permanent.  
  
She just narrowly flew above the hilt thrown after her foot.  
  
"... Now I'm done." Sasa disappeared off the ring to pick it back up.  
  
The horned Bonéka finally got up, leaning her head to the sides a few times. What was she, again? Didn't Siri recognise those horns from somewhere...? No matter, her part was done. She returned to wait just beneath the arena with the others, responded to their congratulations in a hurry, checked for more cuts. She might actually have to get help sowing herself together.  
  
"Hey," Diana said, "wasn't there this one Suika that tended to hang around while we trained in Rustboro?" Oh, yeah, that's what it was! And when they sparred she was... Throwing or smashing rocks most of the time...  
  
Windsor shook her head and arms, mouthing: "Not it."  
  
"Guess it's my turn then!" Diana struggled a little bit with climbing onto the ring.  
  
Siri wasn't going to watch this time, either. She sat straight down with her back against the ring and went for a needle and thread from her satchel nearby. After a moment, Windsor patted her on the shoulder and raised a concerned eyebrow.  
  
"Just a little burned out."  
  
"Don't let it bother you," Natalie told them, still keeping an eye on the match. "... She's doing _that_ with her arm again."  
  
A now familiar pitter-patter of bullets followed - lasted shorter than usual.  
  
Another command came from Brawly: "Do the _Oh-knee_ thing!" Then there was an inexplicable noise. Siri got up so fast she got vertigo.  
  
There were black ropes shooting out of everywhere, running along Diana's back, forcefully bending the wings as far back as possible - apparently that just tickled - but then another set practically glued her arms to her body and lifted her off the ground, shaking her all about. Not enough to hurt, but enough to dizzy and make aiming almost impossible...  
  
Unless, of course, you then aimed for the ropes themselves. Diana seemed to realise this herself, and soon enough, there were leaves cutting through them- hold on, what?  
  
Yes. The little pellet-like bullets were now leaves, sharp enough to cut with. They brought Diana back to the ground rather violently, continued toward the Suika. The ropes disappeared totally as she guarded herself - the leaves left deep, thin cuts along her shield. One missed and left a similar mark on her horn before falling to the ground in the way normal leaves would, before fading into nothing.  
  
The Suika just smirked and glanced off the arena, however. "Well played. Guess I'll have to leave the rest to our guest..."  
  
Diana was still just sitting on the ring. And then she sprinted back to the waiting area, absolutely beaming, her chest pocket glowing. "It's finally happening, guys!!" With a bit of luck, the card within would split into two during the night.  
  
Siri balled her hand into a fist, holding her thumb. "Here's to hoping you get to keep that!"  
  
Brawly breathed in sharply. "You've all done pretty good, I'll give you that. But it's not over yet! Watch this, Mel!" And he threw a scan ball onto the floor.  
  
Its brownish-red hair would have flowed past its shoulders, but most of it was bundled up in a bun on the back (rendered by scanning technology as a simple sphere), which in turn was mostly hidden under a beret with squiggly lines - Lavaridge's emblem. Around its waist was a thick, bright red belt, the level of detail put into it sticking out sorely with the rest of the solid hologram.  
There was no doubt about it being based on a Meiling. One who had evolved, at that. Windsor was already a bit short compared to others who hadn't, but this... During the short time it took to memorise its surroundings and detect its target, it looked down as if looking for a firefly larvae instead.  
  
Brawly could be heard exhaling, and it sprinted forward. Windsor jumped up.  
  
The punch missed. Windsor landed straight on the Meiling's back, bounced off of it.  
  
Windsor hesitated for a second. It should've made a sound according to how badly it was damaged, but no-  
  
that second was enough for the Meiling to retaliate. Windsor turned her back to it - her elytra took the brunt of a solid right.  
  
And a left.  
  
And another right, at which point she finally turned around, for another kick to complement the one in the labyrinth...  
  
There was a sound this time, but the Meiling didn't budge.  
  
Brawly raised his arm and shouted: "Right, time out! Two minutes! C'mover here, Mel."  
  
Windsor didn't seem to have any trouble walking back, but she was grimacing all the same. She turned around and checked whether she could open her back up as usual. It worked - both the elytra reached up to her neck and the softer wings beneath were supposed to be at that angle beneath them - but they still looked bungled up. She turned her head toward the others, frowning.  
  
"Yeesh, that doesn't look too good..." Diana said, wincing a little. "You still want to go out again?"  
  
"Should we fix it now?"  
  
Windsor summoned her shield for a few seconds and pointed at it.  
  
"So you'll stay out until that can't take any blows either?" Windsor nodded, so Siri turned toward Diana. "And then, you could come back out if needed...?"  
  
"Well-"  
  
"I- think I have another suggestion," Natalie began.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Brawly raised his fists, the Meiling copying afterwards, and gritted his teeth at the sight. "Lookit that, Mel. Three punches and corrosion's already setting in..."  
  
  
  
Even after an elaboration, Siri couldn't believe what she was hearing. She ended up whisperyelling "you're insane, you know that?"  
  
Natalie slipped her scarf off, hiding her face. "I haven't been tested..."  
  
"That's not what I- Natalie, we can't just pull that massive risks."  
  
"Technically, relying on Diana last time was a mas-"  
  
" _She's right there_!"  
  
"And it worked out just fine..." Diana chuckled awkwardly. "But I say we try it. If it works, it helps, if it doesn't... We just wasted some time, that's all?"  
  
Siri shook her head. "Windsor, can I at least have your back in this?"  
  
Windsor just made a 'good luck' gesture Natalie's way.  
  
Needless to say, Brawly was as surprised as anyone when he directed his attention and the Meiling back to the ring to find that Natalie had taken Windsor's place. "If you all wanna retreat, you can just say so."  
  
"I'm not budging from this spot until you do from yours."  
  
"... I like that attitude." Brawly gave the air an uppercut, which seemed to spur the Meiling into action again. "Too bad that won't be enough to win you a REAL fight!"  
  
With its fists tearing apart at the seams, the Meiling went for a more elemental approach. It and Natalie danced around another; its fists would burn, only to freeze moments later, then rethaw and burst into flames - it was a wonder how that didn't destroy them. After particularly close misses, it put in a few traditional chops with the side of the hand.  
  
... If Natalie could last this long, how did she not have any badges before all this?  
  
Brawly remained mostly silent through all this, but he wasn't just staying back; his own movements were dictating what the Meiling should pull next. Up, down, to the sides...  
  
Forward.  
  
Natalie should just have ducked. There was literally no conceivable reason to put the shield up first.  
  
But there it was, a prime target, and the Meiling locked onto it. Thanks to the Endurance card, it shrunk into a more compact, durable size -  
  
Natalie reached forward, the S-shaped end of her rod hooked around the Meiling's belt -  
  
Siri swore she could see the shield growing all more transparent, almost invisible, she had to do something, -  
  
One pull, and the belt was torn, falling in a circle onto the ground as Natalie moved aside, letting it stumble forward.  
  
"Now get the hell out of there!" Siri didn't know where that outburst came from, but it was effective - before the scan could comprehend that its strengthener was gone, Windsor was back to pummeling at it, properly shielding herself from weaker and weaker blows this time...  
  
Until Brawly inexplicably returned it to its ball.  
  
His face had reddened considerably, he needed to take some sharp breaths. "Oh man. Oh man, oh man. 's pretty safe to say these waves are rougher than usual, now." What did that even mean. "Hate to break it to me, but that makes two losses in a row. But... This time around, It's like - I don't know. I'm not even angry. Lights?"  
  
The lighting returned to normal in the room, the Rumia crowd nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Come on," Brawly said. "Your prizes, they're near the reception outside. Not just a badge, either..." He cracked a proud grin through all this. " **Steven Stone himself** wanted to donate something to you for the other day. How could he tell you were this kind'a hotshots last time we met? ... Let's just get outta here. You all first."  
  
As he was about to leave the room, he turned toward one of the areas that had been shrouded earlier.  
  
"... That means you too, Mel."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The A/N for this update were about half the entire post's length on NuzForums, so I'm gonna try to cut it down.
> 
> Ooh, now things are getting interesting! There's a possible twist ending, and both custom moves and special abilities are used in this fight. Sakuya the character can stop time; for a whole species of Bonéka, that was a bit overkill... So I nerfed it into stopping one person's time at a... time. Two hack-exclusive moves also showed up: Privat(e)Square, which Sakuya can use to freeze opponents, and Oni Binding, which is basically Spite but Dark-type and mainly used by Suika.
> 
> And the Gym battle was almost as tense as I made it look because I was an idiot. "In stark contrast to RSORAS, Brawly is not exactly a pushover in World Link. During my test run of the hack, I actually attempted to Will-o-wisp his Meiling into submission like I would later do Iku... But no, dynamicpunch OHKO before that sunny milk could even try to give it a burn. I wiped afterwards. So needless to say, for the storylocke, I would have to do something else about its horrendous attack... In fact, the only reason I kept Growl in Windsor's moveset for so long was in preparation for this one opponent, assuming things wouldn't go wrong with [REDACTED]." ([REDACTED] being my Dewford Cave catch.)
> 
> [REDACTED] was frozen by a stray PrivateSquare; do keep in mind that at this point of the game, you can't buy Ice Heals, and I had planted my Aspear berries elsewhere so I couldn't use them.
> 
> Then the Meiling... Windsor tanked all her Dynamicpunches out, despite the Meiling being illegaly evolved three levels too early, and Windsor being unevolved. Meanwhile, I had Windsor growl at her for lesser damage (which couldn't be written as growling due to Windsor's condition.) Once the DynamicPunches ran out, she started throwing elemental punches and karate chops, and a fire punch burned Windsor...
> 
> At which point I, for some fucking stupid reason, switched Natalie in so I could heal Windsor better. She survived surprisingly well, but still. And then I misclicked Thief and got myself a Black Belt. I did an Endure ever so often with Nat, which was a good idea, because otherwise that Karate Chop Crit (which I interpreted as a last DynamicPunch because that's cooler) would have taken her down...
> 
>  
> 
> Fun fact: I depicted the Black Belt as Orange because the Black Belt trainer line's always worn orange bands around their heads. Heck, do they ever actually wear black belts? Remind me to check.
> 
> And a little bit of clarifying worldbuilding to send you all off:
> 
> Held Items on scans - amplifiers, like their in-game effect.  
> Held Items on live Bonéka - usually a sign that they're good at whatever they do. Guess who's carrying theirs with a lot of pride after this.


	15. Epilogue of Chapter 2

([Currently playing: **The Town Everyone Left**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/158964104347/) \- another favourite, also comes back next update)

 

  
The shifts right after a Gym battle were always the roughest.  
  
If the battle was in the morning, the studio would usually broadcast them toward the evening, meaning most of Dewford's population would go to the pub for some dinner while they were at it. Taking those orders was easy enough - but while they were there, they would want celebratory drinks, or need to drown their sorrows over whatever lost bets they had placed on the match... Needless to say, things would get rowdy fairly quick.  
  
And even now, about an hour before the match was set to start, when the local Gym's members had gathered to discuss who could have done what to win the fight over while their Leader was at his other job... Well, most of them clearly weren't on that topic anymore. One of the Rumias was busy loudly describing to anyone in earshot why "Preposterous Spectator" was actually a horrid show and people shouldn't have jumped on the bandwagon of liking it for the sake of being cool.  
  
All that could even be heard in the back area, where Cody had just finished off a batch of dishes. She wringed the gloves off of her hands, dried off some stray drops and went out front just in case an intervention was needed - with certain gym members, that usually was the case. Hopefully, just seeing there was a Koakuma around would make them less like to go completely off the rails.  
  
Besides, Meldra had to be there somewhere... Even better - she was by herself at one of the corner tables, having escaped the madness while she could. As Cody approaced, Mel finally took her hat off and stopped hiding her face with it. "You're not intervening?"  
  
"Not yet." Cody seated herself somewhat awkwardly. "So, even if the fight didn't go to well, how was your bit?"  
  
"Defies description." Meldra paused for a moment, then continued: "It's so absurd, seeing yourself from the outside like that. Though, with who was in charge, I'd argue it wasn't myself at all..."  
  
"And with all those polygons!"  
  
"Those, too... I should warn you that the moves are even more jarring, though." Meldra leaned back a bit. "The system was a bit limited, what with only four maneuvers and that slight delay between order and execution... So we went with mostly elementary moves. Nothing I would use, myself."  
  
Cody bit back a question she didn't notice coming: "Nothing you **could** use?"  
  
As if on que, one of the Gym's Suikas (it was always hard to tell them apart) slammed her hand onto the table. "Why didn't you just stay in Kanto?!"  
  
Oh, that was the last straw. Sasa tried to flip one of the tables onto the Suika. When that didn't work, she settled for lunging over it instead, grabbing her by the collar and readying a punch... Only for the fist to freeze in place.  
  
She kept strugging with it as the current bartender sauntered over to and separated them. "Chrissakes, didn't you see the sign out front? Take it outside."  
  
Sasa looked around in panic, furiously trying to move the arm in question, and then she saw Cody. Cody always pointed at the people she controlled, just a courteous gesture. So Sasa stared straight at the wings on Cody's head and sneered: "No wonder they call you Little **Devils**!" If the point of that statement was to get physically dragged out of the pub, it definitely worked.  
  
There was no use in reminding her that the term was _Koakuma_ : most just forgot it even if Cody tried to remind them. Usually at this point, Meldra would muse something about how you'd think they would upgrade that to a Big Devil now that Cody had evolved... But this time, she just looked down at the table and mumbled something.  
  
"What?"  
  
"No wonder you're going to leave."  
  
"How- I was just about to break it to you!" And now she felt even more guilty about it. Darn it.  
  
Meldra stifled a laugh. "Didn't you warn me about how quickly word spread around here when I'd just moved in?" Well, that much was true. Meldra went back to frowning. "So why are you leaving?"  
  
"I just- I have a power, and I need somewhere better to hone it. Like, say. A Psychic Gym."  
  
"So you're actually going to traverse the whole region by yourself... You could always start out at ours, and transfer later? It's safer that way."  
  
Cody furiously uncurled her sleeves. "Look, I already - I found somebody over in Mauville who promised to give advice whenever I got there. Got her address and everything. So the least I could do is visit her first... Then maybe see if we're fit to actually fight a Gym, or two." If so, Dewford would definitely be the last with that frankly scary gimmick of theirs. "And if I should end up in any... bad situations before then, I'd be gone in a flash."  
  
"... You're that determined, are you?" Meldra got out of her seat. "I'm out for some fresh air. Maybe to knock the others down a notch if they're still at it. Oh, and if Brawly shows up before I do..."  
  
==-==  
  
"So same as usual, then! I'll let the kitchen know. But first, er... Brawly, would you follow me for a bit?"  
  
Brawly broke out in a cold sweat and very reluctantly left the (rather worried) group he had brought with him, out into the cool night air. "So. What's up?"  
  
"Meldra asked me to pass something on." Cody thought for a moment, already forgetting the exact words: "Not worrying about what people at home said?"  
  
Brawly smacked a hand against his forehead, loudly enough that Cody winced a bit. "So she _did_ hear that!" He looked just about ready to die of embarrassment. "If we're gonna be a Trainer and his scan she can't just go and tell everyone else about it!"  
  
"That's all she said, though. Also, that you did well anyway." And considering this was Mel they were talking about...  
  
Brawly groaned and seated himself in the sand near the wall - surprisingly neat for how dirty the nearby road was after the scuffle earlier. "I mean, thanks for that, but she could've done without that part about the folks at home... That's like throwing some oil on a lake, innit? Then the whole thing goes bad."  
  
"..."  
  
"OK, so just to clarify, it's not as bad as it sounds. We got some spare belts in the back of the Gym, see? Mel needed one after the fight, so - we go to the storage, and for some reason that's when my good old mentor in Kanto decides to call. At, like, 2AM over there. And I mean, I just gotta go to another room and tell him all about the match. Did I mention he's a loud guy in general, ESPECIALLY that late? I mean, just look at'im!" Brawly fished an iNav out of his pocket and eventually found a photo of himself and someone else who...  
  
Well, those muscles were almost scary. That was not the sort of person Cody wanted to encounter. Brawly was somewhat short for a man his age, meaning the top of his mentor's head had been cut off in the image - but even if that hadn't been, his mentor would be much more intimidating when put side to side.  
  
"Good thing he keeps to wrestling Pokémon and people his own size, eh? Anyhow, when he hears about some of the stuff that went down today he just." Brawly started making wide, sweeping motions with his arms. "Swamps me, if that makes sense."  
  
Cody didn't have the heart to tell him it really didn't.  
  
"So, I start shouting back. If he's gonna be like 'I trained you better than that!!' I gotta retaliate somehow. Uh, don't take that quote the wrong way, he's just hoping I get out of this losing rut earlier than later if I get called out on it. ... And that's basically it. I quit the call, get out, Mel's not saying anything but - now it turns out I wasn't just imagining her being all dodgy after that. Guess I should thank you for that."  
  
Before Cody could respond, one of Brawly's acquaintances stuck his head out of the door. "Dude, it's starting!"  
  
  
  
Surprisingly enough, after that, her last evening in Dewford was remarkably like any other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Preposterous Spectator" was the random phrase when I came to Dewford in my test run. In the DWLocke run, the phrase was instead "Lacks Trendy". Needless to say the first one was easier to work with and way more fun (if only because Preposterous). What would that show even be about..? I won't explore that further, I think.
> 
> As I won't explore Sasa further, sadly. The problem here is: Sakuya are ridiculously rare encounters in World Link, only being available in a patch of grass belonging to Pallet Town. In fact, you can find all three traditional Touhoumon Kanto Starters (Sakuya, Reimu and Marisa) there. During my testrun, I went and caught a Sakuya at lvl5 there, went on with a few more route catches... Tried challenging Brock. Bam, enemies in their 50s out of nowhere. So for DWLocke, I decided not to visit Kanto more than needed, both due to those level discrepancies and story reasons.
> 
> So Cody's a Gentle Little Devil, what an oxymoron! Or not. Koakuma in Touhou is, like Daiyousei, someone who's appeared a few times who still doesn't have an official name. As a result, her personality is a mystery; all we know is that she works at a massive library.
> 
> Bruno and Brawly are canonically stated to have trained together. Them being mentor and mentored is both fun and easy to imagine. I wonder if any other runs have explored that... I should also have made this an opportunity to explore how someone interested in Pokémon and someone who decided to train Bonéka would get along, but eh. Let's just say they can bond over their love for Pokémon on the side.
> 
> Fun fact: Mel's full name was going to be Melissa for the longest time. Then I remembered I used to know someone called Meldra, and I decided to change it. (Just don't try searching for the name's meaning, though, it just leads to bogus results like "this name will spoil the kid's feminity!!!" as if the name had ANYTHING to do with that. And why should you worry about feminity being spoiled in this day and age? Ugh. /rant over)


	16. Chapter 3, Part 1

([Currently playing: **The Town Everyone Left**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/158964104347/). again.)

 

"Oh, so yer not teleporting _into_ our ship today?"  
  
Briney would ask that every single time. Cody would still flush red over that mistake and sputter something or other about how it would never ever happen again. But Peeko still laughed out of habit, quietly enough to be drowned out by the waves.  
  
"... So, er, are we waiting for someone?" Cody added.  
  
"Aye, a quartet. Fighters, I think."  
  
Peeko wanted to interject that Windsor wasn't part of that trio, but before that happened, Cody was all starry-eyed. "Ah, really? I might have seen their battle yesterday... Very interesting!"  
  
"Really, now?" And despite not having the slightest interest in battling, Briney bent down a little to get on Cody's level. "How so?"  
  
Peeko folded her arms and watched Cody go on and on and on.  
  
Usually they would meet on impulse. They just happened to be nearby, Cody just happened to want to go to Slateport that day - and so, she would run as if her life depended on it, get on on the last second.  
  
As for why she didn't just teleport on... Well, once, as Peeko was told _so_ many times, Cody had been so scared of missing a contest that she had tried teleporting onto deck - only to miss, with Briney none the wiser. None the wiser, that was, until he needed to grab something from the engine room and found the (then little) Koakuma. "Poor thing was scared out of her wits;" enough that he apparently had to carry her up on deck.  
  
It was a good thing that wouldn't happen anymore, because if Peeko had been there now, she just might have blasted someone who really didn't deserve it.  
  
There was finally a lull in the conversation. "So who're you waiting for?" Peeko asked, poking the mysterious bag on Cody's back. "Y'all going camping or something?"  
  
"Well, er... I don't think I could reach Mauville before nightfall no matter how early I left from Slateport."  
  
"No shit, that's pretty fa- Since when were ya going to Mauville?!"  
  
"I came into contact with someone who promised to help me, so- don't look at me like that, I didn't decide to meet them straight away! We started writing right before you, well..." And Cody just shied away, no further description necessary.  
  
... Jesus, Peeko really had been away for way too long...  
  
Briney got back up and prepared to jump back onto the ship at the sound of the bridge groaning. And of course, despite being all lyrical about them seconds before, Cody went all quiet once the other passengers were actually approaching.  
  
"Hey, the Wriggle was decent enough to help me out back then. They're not gonna bite."  
  
-=-  
  
The helm didn't have any doors at all nowadays. The locks had been to high up for Peeko, too delicate for Briney to handle. The waves, the stuttering from the engines, the passengers could always be heard, even if they couldn't hear in return.  
  
Thank god for background noises when neither captain nor engineer could think of anything to talk about. It wasn't until a while after they passed that old wreck by the side of the sanctioned sailing route that Briney spoke up again. "Peeko?"  
  
'Always _something_ with this...' She sat down and prepared to hop off the stool near the wheel. "Where to?"  
  
"Nowhere." He placed one of his boney hands onto her shoulder and coughed. "Just thought, since that lass already made me think about the kidnappin'..."  
  
Peeko just slumped together and let all her thoughts on the matter pour out.  
  
It wasn't surprising that he had waited this long for any sort of explanation. First thing they did once she came home safely was to hug it out for a few hours. OK, maybe that was exaggerating a bit, but it felt like hours. Sometimes you could tell his hands were rotting away, that he just kept himself alive out of stubbornness by now; that was one of those moments. He was so, so, sorry, she had no idea, he _might_ have roared when news people wanted to talk about it with him. If she could cry, she would have then.  
  
But after that... Well, they just went right back to the ship, no more words on the matter. This was fine. After being stuck in the same underground bunker for weeks, with the same patchwork people, the last thing Peeko needed was more time under a roof with lockable doors or reminders of how long she wasted away in one.  
  
"... Couldn't call'em anything but Patchwork people." They must have had Ground affinity, considering they were completely immune to her usual approach of paralysing and hoping they would go away - but all she could say otherwise was that they had all done fine jobs of cutting themselves up and sowing themselves back together until they were as easy to make sense of as somebody else's fever nightmare. While she could swear she had heard humans speaking, they never showed themselves, and it was all too muffled to decipher, anyway. Until the day she had been rescued, but that was something different entirely.  
  
Maybe, if she could hear better, she would know why they would ask a marine engineer in training to build an entire goddamn submarine with her arms and legs tied.  
  
Still not letting go, Briney turned the wheel with his other hand. Slateport was just within reach by now. On a better day, he would wax poetic about the smells coming from the market, try his darndest to describe it to someone who would never experience them. Judging by what the passengers had to say outside, Windsor was trying to fill a similar function.  
  
Now he just asked himself: "Why did it have to be you?"  
  
And Peeko still didn't know how to answer that.  
  
  
==-==  
  
  
Was it too late to say "I want to abandon ship" if you already had sand burning under your feet?  
  
Diana looked at the map with the old embassy circled in. Up past the beach, past the lighthouse. Back at the map. It had been a very bad idea to give Windsor the coloured pens; she had scribbled several possible routes and a legend, but the explanations were basically unreadable even after the fourth attempt.  
  
Nope. This was definitely not working. Why had she agreed on this trip.  
  
"This city doesn't seem as big as Rustboro. You should be fine," Natalie said, holding a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun.  
  
"Not as tall, maybe..." Besides, that was implying Diana could have gotten used to Rustboro in one day without being able to fly above it. Definitely not. By comparison, this was like giving you one of those labyrinths for kids to draw a line through, then taking it away seconds later, giving them the same thing drawn from the side, and asking them to fill it in that way. Anyone would fail that task.  
  
Couldn't Briney have gotten them closer to the actual port, at least? If only she had considered that before the ship left... And that Koakuma had already hurried off somewhere, too.  
  
"Maybe the locals might help?" OK, Siri had a point. The beach wasn't packed with people, but there had to be someone that wasn't too far out into the water to reach...

 

  
They found a few people tanning themselves. As it turned out, none of them felt like putting their clothes back on so they could walk someone through the whole town without warning. Even those who hadn't shed their clothes had their excuses: one was "seasick", the other picking up trash with the help of a Zigzagoon.  
  
Regardless, they did all have one piece of advice in common to give: _Check the Seashore House_. So of course they had to try that.  
  
Natalie was supposed to go through the entrance first, being the tallest and all, but she suddenly paused when she saw a billboard near the door. "Should we take their offer up while we're here?"  
  
Diana followed her gaze. A poorly drawn balding man smiled back, his arms stretched out beyond proportions so he could carry... bottles? Probably bottles. "Show us the hottest moves of the day (before 3pm) and these are all yours!" was written in a speech bubble next to him.  
  
Just ten minutes before the deadline... But Diana felt something swelling in her chest. Maybe a battle or two _would_ help her unwind. "I'm in!"  
  
Siri stretched her shoulders. "Imagine if it's just a pun and I win without any effort."  
  
It took a moment for Diana to get it. "Heh. But what if you're fighting another Fire-type?"  
  
Windsor brought the pen out and looked rather pleased with herself when showing the page off.  
"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."  
  
"Winnie, please-" and after seeing Windsor's face upon hearing the nickname, Diana had never felt more hurry to get through a door before.  
  
The floor was stone cold, most of the benches pushed aside. A few people were still sitting by them, though.  
  
In fact, there was one single Trainer still standing around - and it just had to be one Diana hoped she wouldn't have to meet so soon again. Just like last time, there was an Eiki by her side.  
  
Eliza bowed. Renko turned around and tipped her hat.  
  
"Fancy seeing you here, huh! What a coincidence!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have gone overboard with Peeko and Briney's part. I blame The Song of a Youkai who Loved a Human for making anything relating to Nitori and old men interacting so much more heartbreaking to me. (Surprisingly not Touhou spoilers; it is just a fanfic in music video form.)
> 
> Yeah, the Aquas don't just bring Poochyenas to these fights. Most bring Suwako, who are Water/Ground, even though you can't find any wild Suwako until you get to Java... So if you couldn't meet any civilian Suwako, why wouldn't they become the prime suspects of everything once the Peeko-incident became known? Not to mention the other Aqua stuff? The Patchworks were a last-minute solution to this problem; most of them wear more normal clothing above their Frankenstein fashion and thus blend in among masses. (Good thing Suwako don't have wings, huh.)
> 
> But what about the human members in Aqua? Why did they become so popular? Well... :3:
> 
> Anyhow. Enough about Suwako. Nitori (and thus Peeko by extension) are Water/Electric, and supposedly common fishing encounters. Supposedly because I never bothered fishing in World Link with anything other than the Old Rod and thus don't know. My first attempts with the Old rod... will be explained in an update or two. The point is, Peeko chose to hone the wrong type as a kid, and this was the end result.
> 
> And yes, I decided to shove the Rival battle into this/the next update. Why? First off: story, don't question it. Second: I totally forgot to take notes for any of the Seashore battles. Whoops.
> 
> I have mixed thoughts about the music I've prepared for Renko's battle, but it should work well in the end... Or will it? Let's find out next time!


	17. Chapter 3, Part 2 - ... Anyone?

([Currently playing: **Did Somebody Say Free Soda?**](https://dwlocke.tumblr.com/post/160665708007/))

 

If Renko had this uncomfortably superior air to her last time they met, this was about a dozen times worse. "Like I said, what a coincidence! What's up?" She started adjusting her fanny pack, probably looking for her scans. "Here to fight, or are you all gonna explain how the hell you got _another_ teammate so soon first?"  
  
Windsor stopped crinkling her face at all the salt in the air and pointed at herself, an eyebrow raised.  
  
Some of the other Trainers started muttering to or among themselves. "Wow, and she was all avoidant and stuff when-" "That's not what avoidant means." "Lemme finish, at least?" "Hey, doesn't anyone else recognise that...?"  
  
"Not _just_ a fight... I was hoping to ask for directions, actually." Diana looked around at the Trainers, most of them actively avoiding her with their gazes. "Does anyone know where the old Embassy is?"  
  
"You're in luck!" Renko nudged Eliza a bit. "Dad said to meet me right here in a couple of minutes, and 'Liz here's been to the Embassy a lot too, right? We could work it out."  
  
"Er, yes..." Eliza bowed out of the way. "I - don't believe we have the time to lead you all the way, though. Sorry."  
  
"We'll deal with that later, buddy." And just for a second, Renko actually, genuinely, sounded caring - before replacing that face with a confident frown. "Wait, you didn't answer my question earlier. Wanna see if you can beat us before we're out of time?"  
  
"Wouldn't that be 'beat _me_ '...?" Eliza added.  
  
"We could try. I want to test something." Natalie looked between her practice rods and the metal ones, as if unsure which to pick. "Renko, did you bring the Komachi?"  
  
"'Course I did. What, did you already think of a way to strike it!"  
  
"Yes, actually." And Natalie went for the wooden ones.  
  
"That wasn't a question." Renko chuckled to herself as she, once again, summoned the red and blue Komachi, still equipped with a scythe bigger than itself (not that that said much). "Saw that coming from miles away, Nat - maybe not so soon, that's all!" And then, Renko began the battle with a shout.  
  
'Oh no,' Diana thought. She used voice commands now. This wasn't going to be distracting at all.  
  
The Komachi was still unevolved, but didn't seem to care that Natalie lunged at it like a Persian on a Rattata - or, given her appearance, the other way around. It simply spun its scythe around, trying a hit from below.  
  
Natalie dodged, stopped the scythe with her rods - dropped them and grabbed the scythe as if it were nothing. In fact, technically, it _was_ nothing. She still started struggling with taking it away -  
  
"Ha- **hah**!" Renko yelled with a smirk.  
  
Something rippled in the air between Natalie and the Komachi, who then let go of her scythe without much fanfare. Natalie backed off, stumbling a little but, and then...  
  
' _Oh. Oh my._ ' If Natalie's footwork had been elegant and the strikes clean against Brawly, this was closer to drunks trying to recreate those moves while sitting around in the evening afterwards. This couldn't be just because she switched weapons, right?  
  
Evidently, the other Trainers didn't think so. "Still at it with the Confuse Ray spam?" "You're just bitter 'cause that's why you lost." The first one cleared their throat and raised their voice: "Still a cowardly move! As if a Normal one needed more problems here."  
  
Whereas Renko just told them to shut up, Natalie's attempts at slashing became wilder after that.  
  
Windsor whimpered something, then settled for repeatedly pointing at the ground and swinging her arms in disapproval. What was the message here...  
  
Oh, right - the rods! Renko seemed to notice them soon enough; after thinking about it for a second, she made the Komachi kick them away. They rolled away under an empty table.  
  
Even in her confused state, Natalie realised she should probably go back to using them... Only to trip face-first on the way, smacking against the floor. Was there even anything to trip on?  
  
Diana gritted her teeth, more and more embarrassment slipping out every second as she said: "Shouldn't we do something?"  
  
"Mnnnnotyet-" Natalie tried standing up again, or rather, was getting dragged up by the Komachi trying to get its scythe back. To her credit, Natalie had a pretty strong grip even now.  
  
Siri started mumbling to herself. "I'd be soaked" – she shuddered, went on to Windsor – "kicking wouldn't work..." And then she turned to Diana. "Yeah, you should do something."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Type-wise you're our best bet right now." Without waiting for any 'buts' she went on to tell Natalie to come back immediately.  
  
"O- OK, I could try, but I don't see an openi–"  
  
Windsor suddenly pushed Diana out on the floor.  
  
"Guess that makes it 1-0 for me!" Renko almost skipped over to help Natalie up, who had gone back to being sprawled out on the floor.  
  
Or at least tried to help. Natalie tore herself out of Renko's grip and got back up on her own, then retreated quietly to the once-empty table.  
  
Windsor had already picked them up and laid them on the seat beside her. Natalie promptly seated herself on the opposite end and pulled them over.  
  
Renko looked just about to come with some snide remark, then closed her mouth again. "So, uh, Dia. Wait, that nickname fine for you?"  
  
"... Not really?"  
  
"Diana, then. Guess I shouldn't go too hard on you..." But that next shout said she planned to do otherwise.  
  
The Komachi took some time to realise there was a new target: enough for Diana to steady herself, aim, and hope for the best before the Komachi could get close enough for that Confuse-whatever. ' _Make it a Razor Leaf, make it a Razor Leaf, make it a..._ '  
  
Bullet Seed.  
  
Well, that was better than nothing - the bullets were corroding the scan little by little as it could ran straight at her, scythe in tow, Renko giving another command drowned out by some Trainer shouting "Just fly out'ta the way, dumbass!"  
  
The scythe's handle bounced off of Diana, though she didn't mind it much. 'Dumbass'? Diana didn't notice the incoming strike to her legs, she just had to tackle that statement–  
  
The scythe was turned the right way this time. Evidently it had been dulled somewhat, but it still cut through Diana's trousers, actually got stuck in the back of her knees when Diana fell onto them. It itched something fierce.  
  
... Ah, point-blank range. You had to be a dumbass to not take advantage of that, so Diana did. This time, sharpened leaves sliced through the Komachi and – suddenly, red flashed before her eyes.  
  
With the scythe gone, Diana sunk together into a more comfortable sitting position. "... Is– is that it?" Maybe, just maybe, she had been hoping they would go on for a few more rounds, and she didn't know where that thought came from. Was it part of the process when you learned a new technique?  
  
"Yeah, lemme check..." Renko stared at the Orb intently, waiting for both the scan's and its equipped item's status getting calculated.  
  
Eliza had her wand to her chin and kept turning it over, hiding or showing off the side with intricate carvings seemingly at random. "... Do we have to move on to the Aya?"  
  
"Yeah, I gotta." Renko stuffed Coco's orb into the fanny pack and went on to a blue-and-white one. "Trainer's rules, and all."  
  
"An Aya, huh?" Siri bent forward, stretching her back and flitting her wings about. "How about we leave that one to me, then. Unless Windsor would–"  
  
"N– o!" Windsor said, shaking everything above the waist.  
  
"Thought so."  
  
' _What's so bad about Aya?_ ' Diana wondered. The question was answered by just looking at the scan that then appeared in front of Renko: black-haired, dressed in black shorts, and most importantly, it had impressive wings sprouting out of its back covered in black feathers. ' _... Yeah, I think I have to sit this one out._ ' ... Not on the ground, though. With no better plans, Diana decided to sit by Natalie and see if that would cheer her up any. (Not at all, it turned out. It was more productive for Diana to give herself a potion for the cut.)  
  
"Hold it!" A man in the back of the room - the House's owner, probably - took a break from injecting bubbles into some bottles and patted his sleeping Wingull on the head. It cooed in its sleep. "Gale needs to be prepared before you can-"  
  
Renko ordered the Aya to rise. It immediately took flight like a bird, Siri hovering up soon afterwards - and it suddenly struck Diana how high up the roof was in here.  
  
"Wouldn't a fire extinguisher be more reliable here...?" Natalie mused.  
  
As much as Diana wanted to point out that getting rid of the foam later is harder than you'd think, there was no reason to bring up how she knew that. ”Water Guns are pretty small, so maybe there's less damage to the rest of the area that way?”  
  
The Wingull cawed, and the man said: " _Now_ you can begin!"  
  
Siri tried to start with a sly burn, the Aya flapped it away with an impressive gust – but the ones on the ground didn't feel neither the heat nor the wind.  
  
Until they dove.  
  
It became hard to see _anything_ when they darted all over the air. Siri would drop suddenly to dodge something, aim a flame upwards, almost get it blown back into her face, or the Aya would swoop towards her only to back off at the last second as Siri spontaneously blinded her with a sudden flash of a flame, or – it all became a blur. Tables and chairs vibrated in the wind, rattling with their feet chained to the ground, one or two inches within getting singed. Windsor had ducked below them, poised to roll away in a worst-case scenario.  
  
At some point in the chaos, the House's door opened, and a rather large man in a labcoat bolted in. He didn't get farther than " **So sorry I'm la** -" before a gust of wind came his way, shoving the sentence back into his throat; then he immediately bolted out again, eyes wide and dry, chanting "nope" to himself. Still completely unnoticed.  
  
Or if Renko did notice it, she didn't see it as a reason to hold back. If anything, her orders became louder – though, somehow, a little less fierce at the same time.  
  
In fact, her voice had started cracking a bit by the time Siri finally landed and went down on hands and knees to admit defeat.  
  
The House's owner congratulated Renko on the win and added: “Oh, and thank you for making sure Gale didn't have to intervene! You never know with, uh...”  
  
“That wasn't on me.” Renko grabbed one of the bottles and a straw, then sipped from it. Breathed out, slowly, shuddering and making a noise to match.  
  
"Too cold?" Eliza asked.  
  
"Nah, just fizzy." After seeing the confused look on Eliza's face, Renko added: "It's kinda like when you get tickled, except on the inside?"  
  
Siri had her fists clenched as she got up again, but didn't comment on the owner's statement. As she dusted herself off, all she had to say was: “Are we even now?”  
  
“Dammit, I was banking on you forgetting that bet.” Renko barely finished that sentence before she started laughing. “Yeah, I'll just keep that coin. It's not like the others had nothing to cough up afterwards..."  
  
The Seashore House returned to normalcy soon afterwards. Windsor creeped up from below the table, seated herself properly and started scribbling what appeared to be a comic on how to avoid Confuse Rays. With nothing else to do, defeated Trainers went off somewhere – probably the Center – and civilians who weren't interested in battling came in to replace them.  
  
This included the labcoated man from earlier, who was still a bit panicky. To put it mildly. He stomped through the House like a drunk Tauros, his sandals smacking loudly against the stone floor, and almost crashed into Renko. Considering he was at least twice her size, that 'almost' was very fortunate. He clasped his hands onto her shoulders and then gave her a hug that looked suffocating from this angle. “Hi!! Again, sorry that I'm late-”  
  
Renko replied something muffled. She returned the hug with one arm, and then they both backed off. She gestured toward one of the other bottles. “Want one? I just won them!”  
  
As the man quickly greeted Siri and Nat, then shook hands with Eliza, then accepted the offer – only to choke on it and grimace at the drink's sweetness – Diana noticed something.  
  
The beard, the way his face seemed stretched out to the sides... Being all chummy with the others...  
  
Renko noticed Diana staring and started grinning widely. “Oh, yeah. You two never met Dad, right?”  
  
“No, but I, uh- wanted for a while now so that's nice and... yeah..."  
  
But Jesus, was he massive in person! The sheer size unnerved her, especially with the way 'Dad'... Or rather, _Professor Birch himself_ , had walked up to her with a wide grin that seemed oddly familiar. ... Oh, right, because he had passed it on to his kid, which was so much easier to tell when they were both here.  
  
It lasted for a second or two before he instead addressed Natalie: “good to see you're getting some friends while you're out and about.”  
  
Natalie didn't answer that; she just looked over at Diana questionably.  
  
The lull in the conversation hung around just long enough to be noticable before Windsor tapped at her notebook, having added something to the page with the comic. Birch accepted it and squinted at the text... Then burst out "oh, you want an autograph! That's nice, just let me..." Birch's hand went to his chest pocket as if he had done this quite a few times before... then he patted it and realised it was empty.  
  
Without skipping a beat, Windsor let him borrow her pen.  
  
"O- Oh! Could I have one, too?"  
  
"Sure," Birch said, slapping his signature together twice on the page. He then frowned sheepishly as he handed the notebook back. "Actually, mind if I keep the pen for a while? I need to write some stuff myself, soon."  
  
"Hm?" Professor," Eliza asked, "didn't you just come back from your meeting?"  
  
Renko sighed, sounding somewhat annoyed. "You're actually gonna write notes for the tour..."  
  
"What's the point of learning things if you can't use that info later? It might be important!" Birch rebutted. "And speaking of important stuff... How are you getting along, Siri, Natalie?"  
  
"Could be better," Natalie said.  
  
Siri paused for a moment and winked at Natalie. "Actually, my invisibility's been acting up strangely recently. I don't want to share the details right now, so how about we talk about that in the Center later?"  
  
"But you haven't used it at all during our trip?"  
  
Siri groaned, flew up to reach Natalie's ear, and whispered an explanation into it.  
  
Windsor poked Diana, presumably to ask what was going on. And while Diana had a hunch this was about that robot, it was probably better not to jump to conclusions. If they were going this far to keep it undercover, maybe the best thing to do was to shrug and play dumb? ... Better than playing a dumbass, at least.  
  
"I see. Thanks," Natalie said. Was she smiling a little?  
  
Birch chuckled quietly. "Yeah, I suppose we could do that after the tour. Let's see, if it starts at..." He looked down at his watch and went pale. "... Ten minutes ago..."  
  
"Oh, crap, we're late!" Renko quickly sprinted off, Birch soon following suit and catching up to – no, passing her.  
  
Eliza was left standing awkwardly with the team. She looked down at Diana's legs and cleared her throat. "So, er... Do you still need help finding the Embassy? Or – maybe you should go to the Center first..."  
  
"No, I'm good." Diana said. There were still tears in her pants but that could be fixed later, whereas she could image the queues at the Embassy getting longer later.  
  
"Let's just... We should leave, then." And Eliza hurried off herself, Diana following suit.  
  
Siri watched them leave with a smile on their face, then told Windsor: "I swear, that always happens when they plan stuff."  
  
Windsor nodded slowly, her mouth slightly open, not looking too amused.  
  
"More importantly..." Natalie tugged on her bag over her shoulder. "Now what do we do?"  
  
"Oh, yeah!" Siri said. "That Koakuma on the ship said something about a contest earlier. I always wanted to see one in person..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, they never got to explain how Windsor ended up on the team! ... Eh, maybe later :v
> 
> Thief is such a fun move tbh. I can't recall too many occasions where people have messed around with it in stories, but as long as Natalie keeps the move, it's gonna be quite a bit of brain exercise for me.
> 
> So after I used Thief, the Komachi went for a Confuse Ray. Then Natalie hurt herself and Komachi scratched her, which did a bit more damage than I was comfortable with. Not necessarily leading to any danger, but I still decided to switch out to Diana because, hey... Diana's Attack was still shit, especially compared to her Defense. If she got confused, it wouldn't be half as big a problem, I reckoned. And it was right.
> 
> Alternatively, I could have gone for Windsor and Pursuited Komachi. In retrospect that might have been more fun to depict. We haven't seen Windsor fight much yet, after all...
> 
> Aya was, despite the way I depicted that battle, more straightforward. (I was pretty damn worried Will-o-wisp wouldn't hit, though - and what if there had been a crit? Doesn't bear thinking about.)
> 
> Then Eiki. Just for fun, I decided to send Cody out against her, despite both being Psychics. And guess what? Eiki just Preached (basically Screech under a different name) and Imprisoned Cody, while Cody slowly whittled her health down with Confusions and Flashes. This is but one of the reasons I wrote Eliza as a (mostly?) genuine pacifist. It wouldn't work with either character's personalities to write them in such a one-sided fight, so I decided to leave it out. Poor Cody can't catch a break, huh - left out entirely from two important battles in-story, frozen in the first one and not healed until she got to the Center, the list goes on!
> 
> ... So two of my team members had Flash. Deal with it. It actually got buffed quite a bit for DWL, now having 70 Power. Lowering accuracy AND hitting pretty strongly with a move nearly every catch could learn? Sign me up! I only taught Siri and Cody that though; Cody due to powerful STAB, Siri as an upgrade to Sand-attack. In the future, I may describe Siri using those two moves interchangeably. (Oh! Siri actually used that move once or twice in the Brawly Gym Fight. Could any of you tell when~? ... Wouldn't blame you if you couldn't.)
> 
> Speaking of the Eiki. Eliza. If you're wondering what's with this wand (wandering?), that's something the original Eiki Shiki carries around, as seen here. It's officially called the Rod of Remorse, but with Natalie's rods, I thought it would be a bit weird to both call them that when Eliza's is so much thicker and shorter.
> 
> As for why Eliza's so quiet/demure... Touched a little bit upon that before reaching Dewford, but I might elaborate on that more the update after this one. Thought I could combine that with why Maribel, or whatever her name is in this story (DISCLAIMER: I do remember) hasn't been seen yet! So stay tuned~


	18. Chapter 3, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DWL is now officially one year old (going by the NuzForum release date)! So have this update.

This was it. This whole little trip had been leading up to this. So don't screw it up.

Then again, what was there to screw up? She was just standing in the waiting hall on the second floor of the embassy. All she had to do was to take a slip with a number on it and try to explain her problem as quickly as possible. ' _It's fine,_ ' she kept telling herself. ' _You've got this in the bag. Literally. You just need to bring out the relevant documents and it's over._ '

The machine asked her to print a slip relevant to her errand, so she pushed the button for "Spellcard Archives" and looked around. To be honest, the waiting room at the embassy was... a bit much. It had clearly been built with her ancestry in mind - the walls looked papery, with various images etched into them, and she couldn't say she recognised the plants they had placed between some of the seats.

It all felt so alien to her.

A lot of people were sitting around here, but she did find one empty spot near one of the plants. Just as she got seated, an old buzzer that kept cutting in and out rang loudly. One of the clerks up front called out for a number that wasn't hers. Diana couldn't help but notice that the two clerks looked really alike, with the biggest difference being height... Had one of them evolved? She couldn't say anything about their type or abilities, though. Some people whispered among themselves; others rustled with magazines or newspapers they had picked up somewhere.

After what felt like an eternity, the buzzing noise returned, followed by her number. Gulp. She practically bounced out of the seat and hurried over to the unevolved assistant, who was all chipperness. "Now, what can I help you with..." She still smiled, but started frowning with confusion. "Sir? Miss?"

Sigh. "Miss."

"Ah, sorry!" The assistant bowed, a long braid dangling in the air as she did so, and then she stood straight as an arrow again. "So, what's the problem?"

"I, uh, was told by a nurse at the Rustboro Center to visit you regarding a spellcard I came into contact with..." Just as she finished saying that, she had found the contract in her bag - she put it on the table, along with the spellcard. "... Basically, I can't fly anymore since I got it, and... yeah."

"Ohh! I'd say Heidi would..." The assistant didn't even try to reach up to her coworker's shoulder and poked her on the arm instead. "Hey, didn't you say you would take care of something like that?"

'Heidi' looked down on Diana. Then, on the stack of papers that had been stapled together. "Oh, yes, we've been expecting you." Nothing in her voice suggested that she had been looking forward to it. "Suppose we should swap places, then..."

"Alright!" And almost in the blink of an eye, they had swapped places.

Unlike her chattier coworker, Heidi just picked up the contract stack and took one long glance at every page. Her hair was done up in cute braids with a ribbon at each end, but those did not make her frown any less intimidating. Then she opened the gate separating the booth from the rest of the room, then nodded toward a heavy door in the back. "... You might want to follow me."

Diana couldn't gain anything from questioning that decision, so she didn't. The heavy door led to this small, empty corridor. Something about the change of scenery unnerved Diana, but then again it was better than being told any bad news where people could hear them... Or so she thought until Heidi locked the door behind them again.

"H-hey!"

"No need to panic. This is just a safety procedure." Heidi walked past her and started unlocking the other door, which required both sliding a key card down a device and tapping some code onto it. "Let's just say that after recent events, it's especially important to keep the archive room safe."

The door opened up with a beep, revealing a starch-white room with rows upon rows of drawers. The air was thick with insect repellants; as soon as Diana had gone inside, she felt like she had been hit by a sledgehammer. She imagined having to scrub it off, overdoing it and consequently having to get her hull repainted - shuddered at the thought. The fact the roof was right above them didn't help matters.

"... Sorry, but we both have to go in if we want to confirm what the problem is." Heidi was so close. She sounded so far away.

"Do you at least have a theory?"

"How should I explain this..." Heidi might have tapped her chin with her index finger. "You know how risky blood transfusions are for humans, right?"

Biology had never been Diana's strong suit, but at least she knew that much. Get one from the wrong type, the blood cells started fighting inside your body and you got really sick in the best scenario and could straight up die in the worst. So instead of types, there could be... "You think I accidentally got it from someone without wings?"

"Exactly. The problem is that we know the risks - if you really did buy it from us, that accident couldn't feasibly have happened." Heidi faced away and pulled one of the boxes out, then looked at a folder marked with [Status unknown]. "... Bullet Seed, was it?"

Diana suddenly felt like her head was being pushed in from all sides.

'If you really did buy it from us'. There weren't any other alternatives she knew of, apart from maybe some business in Java or something, so what exactly was she insinuating? Because Diana clearly remembered a mailman delivering it straight to her room. No scammers would have gone that far - wait, wasn't there something odd about the mailman? Something kept nagging at her - and even if they did, they wouldn't have left her a contract...

Without warning, Heidi turned some of the sheets around and held them up in the shape of a fan. "Do you feel some sort of connection to any of these people?"

The profiles all had little mugshots on them - in colour, too, because their faces didn't look too different - and without thinking, Diana reached out for one. It was a bit like seeing a long-lost cousin or something. The donor had her brunette hair decorated with a few wildflowers, and an almost orange hull to match; her description called her a Shizuha, a fellow Grass-type, but definitely not a fairy. This Shizuha had grown up in Fortree - wow, that far away? And judging by the dates listed, she couldn't be older than twelve now. ... All that, and her name wasn't written anywhere, just her League ID number.

And at the very bottom of the document, it said " **Card's status** : Missing."

"An entire shipment went missing a few months ago," Heidi explained. "Soon afterwards, we heard somebody had been chucking pamphlets into mailboxes advertising that you-"

"- could call and order one by paying through..." Diana wanted to swallow, but it didn't help. "I... Yeah, I got one of those. They- they used your logo on it and everything, I really thought it was legit-"

"And you're not the first to fall for it, either." Heidi kneeled down and gripped Diana's shoulders - it felt like she slammed them down. "Look, we know that you merged it with your own, so we can't exactly take it away from you without causing even more damage. Our policy in those cases is that we'll try to get you a legit contract - though you'll have to share anything that could give us hints about how those thieves work."

"Wait, I'm not in trouble?" Nothing like going to jail or being put on a watchlist for carrying around illegal weaponry?

"We can worry about that later."

-=-

When Diana finally came out of the embassy, the sky had started turning a deep orange. Honestly, with everything that happened, she was surprised it wasn't pitch black.

They had spent hours analysing the things she had brought with her, checking for 'leads' - they even took the phone away and checked both the account she had sent her payment to, and how much it had cost her. But no, the account didn't exist anymore, so they'd need to talk with the other company about what number it originally belonged to. "This is why I don't trust those newfangled apps that let you manage your bank stuff through your phone..." someone had muttered. And Diana had to agree.

... But hey, after all was said and done, she had gotten what she came for: an explanation. And a proper contact, even though she didn't know she needed one (the new one even included her donor's ID number). And the police hadn't gotten involved. That last part especially was surprising, definitely a pleasant surprise, at that - so why couldn't she be happy about it?

She took to walking the streets aimlessly while trying to think about all that. If she had been at home in Rustboro, she would probably have holed up in her room for a while instead; besides, if it was tough enough getting around in broad daylight, doing so during night seemed even worse. But she only had the faintest clue where the Center was, and the last thing she wanted was to meet the others... So instead, she let the streetlights and neon signs that would have blinded her at home guide her through the crowd. She only had to bump into someone once or twice, and even then, they didn't seem to mind. Any apologies went unnoticed with this salty breeze and all these vehicles and feet moving around on the tar streets.

Things got especially loud when she passed by the museum again. It lay on a tiny peninsula connected to the town, and it had been smack full of people when she and Eliza split up earlier that afternoon - in fact, all the people queueing up for tours had been hanging around outside, including the Birches.

Except the crowd was much more confused now. Probably because the whole peninsula had been cut off by yellow and black tape, and because both policemen and some humanoid Pokémon were busy trying to keep journalists and other particularly angry people away.

The rest of the crowd just looked on and talked among themselves. Confused. Scared. It was infectious, and Diana wanted to push herself to the front. Were the Birches alright? Had the people over at the embassy not bothered to involve the police because they were busy elsewhere? How selfish wasn't that last thought, to worry about the latter now when people actually might have been hurt?

... She had to ask the others. Her phone had been shut off since they inspected it, but she booted it up again - immediately she saw that she had 9 missed notifications, both calls and messages. All of them from Siri.

It had started out with things like "We're going to hang out at the market for a while, feel free to join!" and a few photos from their visit - then suddenly, "Did 'Liz seem off when guiding you?"

Eliza? Diana thought. They just walked through town quietly, had passed by the lighthouse because the market was too filled with people. She remembered getting annoyed by the silence and asking Eliza a lot of stuff, only to get quick and concise answers, if anything. And then Eliza had left so she could join the Birches at the museum...

"Have you seen what happened to the museum? Tried calling the Birches, but it keeps saying their numbers aren't available right now. Did you see them?"

And finally: "Please respond. We're at the Center now," along with the Center's address.

Diana started running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason it took so long for this update to come out is that for the longest time, I wanted to do multitasking. As in, I wanted both to document the team's (mis)adventures on the market and at the Contest hall, as well as Diana getting this harsh awakening at the embassy. But it was too complicated to go through with, so I decided to go with the more important part. Besides, the contest stuff can wait until we get to another town.
> 
> I'm sure you're wondering why Heidi and her unnamed coworker were treated that way. They're so-called Hinas, who replace Magikarp (?!) in the hack, despite being poison types. The unnamed one is my Dewford fishing catch - or would-be catch, but I did a dumb and ran away for some reason I don't remember. Heidi was caught, but after one too many close calls in grinding I permaboxed her.


End file.
